Heart of an Alchemist
by DreamstoneX
Summary: Edward and Alphonse have finally found the Philosophers Stone, and try to get their bodies back to normal. But when something goes wrong in a transmutation, it lands them in a completely different world. Kingdom Hearts/FullMetal Alchemist crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own neither FullMetal Alchemist nor Kingdom Hearts

This is my first fanfiction so please go easy on me!

Anyway, here's **Heart of an Alchemist**!

**

* * *

**

Chapter One

"I can't believe you Edward! This was my best Automail! How could you just break it like this?" a light blonde-haired girl yelled as she examined a boy's mechanical arm.

"Winry, just shut up and screw off," the boy – Edward – replied in a mumble. He was pissed that his Automail arm snapped while he was lifting a couple of boxes. He felt like yelling that the Automail was a piece of crap, but didn't want to start another fight with Winry and have to put up with her obnoxious replies.

"What was that!" Winry snapped, grabbing a large wrench tight in her hand.

"Nothing."

Winry lifted up Edward's Automail arm and examined it. "Doesn't look all that bad, a few pieces just popped out. Shouldn't take too long." She picked out a few parts from her kit and went to work.

"Hey Brother, is she done yet?" a large suit of armor walked into the room.

"Hey, Alphonse," the two said as he entered the room.

" Finished." Winry put away her tools, while Ed threw a couple punches with his newly fixed arm. "I still can't believe you broke it so easily. My Automail can carry a couple of little packages around; you've been reckless again haven't you?"

Alphonse jumped in before Ed could reply. "Don't say that, it was probably just worn out because you haven't worked on it in a while."

"Whatever Al, it's just that you called me all the way from Resembool to Central for this. I'm going to have to stay here tonight."

"That's OK, we don't mind having you around, right Ed?"

Edward was putting on his shirt and jackets. "Sure, Al. As long as she doesn't want to go shopping."

----------------------------------------

Winry peered out her window. It was getting late and the sky was darkening. She didn't feel like sleeping. She was bored and wanted to be out with Al and Ed. She thought back to earlier when she asked if the two brothers would like to go roaming the city with her. Al was nice enough about it, but Ed gave a strait-out "No, we've got something else to do." Winry wondered what was so important that her two friends couldn't tell her about it. She sat for a few more minutes staring off into space. She finally decided that she didn't care how important this thing they did was, if they had told her about it she might have been able to help. She jogged out of her room and went to search for them.

----------------------------------------

Edward and Alphonse sat in an old warehouse surrounded by books on alchemy. Ed was drawing out an array on the floor with chalk, while Al held out a book for him so he could make sure he was doing it right. "That's it," Edward said. He laid down his chalk and looked at a book. Alphonse was double-checking the array. Ed reached into his pocket and grabbed a bulky object. "Are you…ready?" Edward asked with a shiver in his voice.

Alphonse hesitated. "Yes."

"All right." Ed took his hand out of his pocket. The item he took out was a blood-red stone.

The Philosopher's Stone.

The boys were going to do what they had dreamt of doing since the day they burned down their house. Get their bodies back. Both of them were afraid to do it. They were risking a lot by doing this. Ed could lose more of his body, or they could both wind up dead. If they did die then they wouldn't just hurt themselves, it would also hurt their friends. Some of the other officers in the military, Aunt Pinako, and most of all, Winry. She'd never get over it. They didn't want to leave her behind, especially since they had just lied to her. Edward did break his Automail while carrying the boxes, but it wasn't because Winry hadn't checked it out in a while. They had been reckless, and had finally found the Philosophers Stone in doing so. Before they called Winry down they waited for Ed's wounds to heal so she wouldn't be too suspicious.

"Let's do it Brother. We can't be afraid to keep going. We've come too far to stop. We've been through too much; if we stop now then it will have all been for nothing!"

"…You're right, Al. We have to do this." Ed walked to the center of the transmutation circle and placed the stone on the ground. He walked out and crouched on his knees as Al was doing.

"Ready…" Al started.

"Steady…" Ed continued.

"Go!" they said together. They put their hands on the side of the array. It started to glow and a red light shot around the room like lightning from the Philosophers Stone. The room suddenly started to get dark, and Ed was getting a bad feeling. It was too much like when they tried to bring back their mother, which went horribly wrong.

"Brother, look out!" Al yelled. Ed looked down and saw himself sinking into a dark hole. He tried to get away, but it was pulling him in too fast.

"Alphonse! Help me!" Ed tossed up an arm for him to grab, but right when Al's hand was about to grab his, Al's empty armor fell to the ground.

"Al? Al!" Edward had already sunken into the hole to where it engulfed most of his arms. His head was about to go under and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was his brother's motionless armor… and a strange white light.

* * *

**(A/N)**

How's that for a first chapter?

Review, please!


	2. Chapter 2

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I am not brilliant enough to own Kingdom Hearts nor FullMetal Alchemist

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Edward opened his eyes slowly. His vision was blurry and his head hurt. Edward sat up. He waited for his head to clear before opening his eyes again. When his head stopped pounding he looked around. He was lying on a sandy beach, right next to an ocean tide. He didn't mind the water flowing towards and away from him. He was sweating all over from what happened the night before when he and Alphonse…

'_Al!'_ Ed thought. What had happened to his little brother? All he could remember was Al's armor collapsing and he seemed to recall a white light. _'Maybe he ended up here too,'_ Ed thought as he rose to his feet. His vision turned hazy for a second, but he quickly got in control. He walked along the sandy beach until he came across an old shack. He peered inside only to find a stairway that - he thought - led to the bridge that he saw outside. He left the shack and walked over to a miniature waterfall that was pouring into a small pool of water. Ed took off his white gloves and scooped up a handful of water and took a sip. It tasted very good. After a couple more sips he replaced his gloves on his hands. He looked at his Automail hand and thought for a moment. He had no idea where he was, and the people out here might not know about Automail. That is, if there were any people here. Edward decided that it would be better to hide the Automail just in case. Edward turned in a circle. He saw some trees and ladders, but no people. He then noticed a little hole in the wall to the left of the little pool hat was covered with vines. He walked over to it, brushing away the vines to find the hole was a tunnel. Ed thought it might not be a good idea, but if he wanted to find Alphonse he would have to search every inch of the sandy beach. So he entered the cave.

"Riku!" a girl with red hair called. A silver-haired boy walked up to her. "A strange boy just went into the Secret Place," she tolled him, referring to the cave.

"Really, Kairi? Do you recognize him? Do you think he's from around here?" Riku asked her, beginning to feel somewhat excited.

She shook her head. "I've never seen him before. Besides, he was wearing a big red coat so if he was from around here, I'd think he'd dress a little lighter," Kairi replied.

"Hey, do you think he's from another world! Where's Sora? He'd want to know about this!"

Kairi gasped, "He went in there a little while ago!" Riku grabbed Kairi's hand and took off to the cave.

Edward turned around the thin winding path until he got to a large room. The room had drawings all over it. Across from Edward was a wooden door in the wall. Ed saw a brunette, spiky- haired boy drawing on the wall with a couple of stones. Ed quickly pulled his red sleeve down to make sure that his Automail wouldn't show. Ed was about to dart out of the room when the boy spotted him.

"Hey who are you?" The boy jumped up, seeming somewhat flustered, and looked as if he were trying to cover something behind his back. Edward didn't know if he should say anything to him or not. "Who are you?" the boy repeated, his cheeks turning pink. Ed took a step back and stepped on something. It was a rock that was slightly smaller than his fist. Ed suddenly got an idea. If he could knock this kid out, he could make a run for it and the boy might think it was just a dream. Ed bent down; making sure his red coat blocked the boy's way of seeing him pick up the rock.

The brown-haired boy saw the stranger bend down. He raised his fists ready to fight if he needed to. Then he noticed someone behind the blond boy. It was his friends Riku and Kairi. Riku and Kairi muttered about something to each other and then Riku quickly picked up a rock. The brunette boy quickly looked back to the stranger; he didn't want to give his friend away. In the corner of his eye he could see Kairi mutter something to Riku. He reacted disdainfully to what she said, and she looked worried as he took a couple steps forward.

Edward was ready to spring forward and knock out the brown-haired boy. He took a step forward, and then heard someone behind him. He turned around just in time to see a sliver-haired person swing at him. A hard object came in contact with his head. Edward felt light headed, then collapsed.

* * *

**(A/N)**

Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own neither FullMetal Alchemist nor Kingdom Hearts (teardrop).

**

* * *

**

Chapter Three

"Riku!" Kairi shouted. She ran over to Edward and looked at his head. "Look at this, he's bleeding!" Edward had a big gash on his forehead and blood was dripping out. "You said you weren't going to hurt him!"

"Oh, come on Kairi I didn't hit him _that_ hard," Riku said throwing the bloody rock to his side.

"Who do you think he is?" the brown-haired boy asked.

"Well by the way he's dressed I'd say he's not from around here, right Sora?"

"You might be right, Riku," Sora replied, a small smile creeping onto his mouth.

"Who cares about that right now? Come on, help me get him up," Kairi snapped.

----------------------------------------

Edward's head pounded as he sat up. He touched his wounded forehead to feel a bandage had been put over it. He looked around to find himself in a wooded tree house. He looked to his right to see a strange-looking tree. He wondered how the tree could grow in here. "So you're up," he heard someone say. He turned around to see a red-haired girl. She was wearing a white tank top and purple miniskirt with yellow wristbands and a purple band halfway up her left arm. She had large white and purple shoes, and a necklace that looked like a pearl in the shape of a teardrop. Her eyes were blue. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, her necklace holding his attention for a moment. "But who are you?"

"We could ask you the same question," someone said. Ed looked behind her to see the boy who had attacked him climbing the ladder into the tree house, followed by the brunette boy.

The boy who'd attacked him had silver hair and ice-blue eyes. He was wearing black gloves, black wristbands and a yellow and black sleeveless shirt. His pants were baggy and blue. His shoes were black on the bottom with a wide blue stripe across the top under two black laces.

The other boy had brown spiky hair and light-blue eyes. He had a red jumpsuit with a large zipper going down the middle and a blue belt. Over it, he wore a black and white short-sleeved sweater with a hood. He had white fingerless gloves with a blue stripe across the top and a metal circle over it. He also had a silver crown necklace and large yellow and black shoes.

"I'm Kairi and that's Riku and that's Sora," she told him pointing to the two boys. "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Edward Elric." Kairi, Sora and Riku looked up and down Edward, all thinking his clothing was quite strange. His tight leather pants, black shirts and long red over-coat seemed like it would be a bit too warm and Sora thought having his hair in a braid would be rather annoying.

Ed looked at the three of them, thinking their clothes were bizarre as well. Sora looked kind of strange, he had a giddy expression. Ed looked at him questionably.

"Hey," Sora said with excitement clawing at his tone. "Are you from another world?"

"Sora!" Kairi said hitting him on the shoulder. Ed thought a moment.

"I don't know, where's here?"

"This is Destiny Islands."

"Destiny Islands? Never heard of it. Do you know any town or city names around here? I might have heard of those."

"Cities? It's just a lot of islands here. Destiny Islands."

Edward thought for a moment. "Well, then I guess I am from another world."

"Wow! Really? What's it like?!" Sora jumped with enthusiasm. Edward gave a little smile at his reaction. He kind of liked Sora already.

----------------------------------------

"This place isn't all that big, huh?" Ed asked following Sora and Kairi. Riku had gone with someone named Tidus, who had challenged him to something.

"Well not this island anyway. This is just the island that we, and some others, come to play on. There are bigger islands where everybody lives a little west of here, right Sora?" Sora nodded to Kairi.

"Seems pretty nice and peaceful, I'd sure like to live here."

"I don't think so Ed," Sora responded. "It's way to boring here. Nothing exciting happens. You'd probably just get bored, I mean if you travel. Do you?"

"Well, just a bit. But I'd sure like to just settle down and have a real home."

Sora looked as if he'd tasted something foul. "Not for me, no way!"

Kairi smiled, "Sora and Riku want to see other worlds. I kind of do, too. It might be fun to see new places and meet new people. Actually we were planning to set sail soon."

"Set sail?" Ed said confused. Kairi and Sora both nodded.

"We'll show you come on." Sora and Kairi raced to a wooden door and opened it, with Edward right on their tails.

----------------------------------------

Ed followed the two as they walked forward towards a large object with a white sheet over it. "What's this?" Edward said looking up at the object.

"This…" Sora reached and grabbed a corner of the sheet, "is our ship!" He and Kairi pulled off the sheet to reveal a wide raft with a large sail.

"You're…ship?"

"OK, it's not exactly a ship, but we spent a lot of time building it and it's going to help us get to new worlds!" Ed thought the idea was a little silly, being able to go to a different world on a raft, but the thought of him being from another world was a bit strange as well.

"Well if it's our ship, it's going to need a name, right?" The three turned around to see Riku walking towards them. "So what do you think we should name it? How about Highwind?"

"Highwind? That sounds kind of weird, Riku" Sora said.

"Oh, and what do you propose the name should be?"

Sora thought a moment. "Wind Scar, how about Wind Scar?"

"Wind Scar? How in the world is that better that Highwind? I mean that's just plain stupid."

"What?" Sora yelled, gripping a fist.

Kairi giggled. "All right guys, the usual?" Riku and Sora nodded. "Heehee, come on Ed, you're probably going to want to stand out of the way." Ed, Sora and Kairi got on top of the higher piece of land Riku was standing on. Kairi and Ed stood to the side as Riku and Sora stood side-to-side in ready positions. "Three, two, one, go!" Kairi waved her hand down on go, and Riku and Sora sped off.

* * *

**(A/N)**

Next chapter will be more interesting! Review!

Yes I watch Inuyasha, I couldn't think of anything else to name the raft one time so I called it 'Wind Scar'.


	4. Chapter 4

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own neither FMA nor KH

Sorry it took so long to update, my internet's been really slow lately. Also I updated the previous chapters,(I can't use the stars for scene changes anymore) but not by much though.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Three, two, one, go!" Kairi waved her hand down on go, and Riku and Sora sped off.

They sprinted along a wooden bridge, jumping over a part that had fallen off, and ran to a little tower. The two boys wrestled while climbing the ladder. Sora reached the top just a second before Riku, and grabbed the handle of a zip line, sliding down the cable. Riku didn't hesitate when deciding which route to take next. He immediately turned to his left and jumped onto one of the very tall palm trees. He jumped from one palm tree to the next, making sure not to get any bad footing to where he would fall. Riku reached his destination, which was at the corner of a large wall. A little star-shaped tree – that looked like a short palm tree with a homemade star upon it – was on a tall piece of land. Sora was only a few feet away from the tree, running up a slanted path towards it, when Riku tapped the trunk and jumped down from the tall platform. Sora jumped across a landless space, landing on his hands and knees. He quickly stood up, tapped the tree and jumped down the tall piece of land. Sora sped up to catch up with Riku, who had already made it past the bunch of palm trees. Speeding past the palm trees, Sora was only a foot or two behind Riku. Riku jumped up a small ledge, Sora right on his tail, turned and raced across the bridge they had started from. Riku jumped and landed right beside Kairi.

"Winner!" She declared as Sora ran off the bridge with a sour expression. Both of the boys were short on breath and a bit red in the face.

"Well, I guess it's official," Riku said catching heavy breaths, "We'll call it Highwind." Sora looked at him disappointed.

"One more race, Riku. Come on. Please?" Sora begged.

"Well, I'm up for another race." Sora smiled getting pumped at the thought of beating Riku. "Just not with you." Sora smile faded.

"What do you mean not with me?" Sora put on a pout-face.

"I want to race you." Turning around, Riku pointed at Ed. Ed was a bit surprised at this proposition. "If Ed wins, we'll name it Wind Scar."

"Uh, I don't really think this is--"

"Come on Ed," Sora begged. "Please? Just one race, it'll be the only thing you ever have to do for me. Please?" Ed looked at Sora and his puppy-eyed expression. It kind of reminded him of Winry when she wanted Ed to buy her some expensive mechanic stuff, or when he and Al where kids and he really wanted his big brother to do him a favor. Ed sighed and nodded his head. Sora jumped with excitement, "Yes!"

"Three…" Kairi started as Edward and Riku stood in ready positions. "Two, one, go!" Kairi waved her hand down on go and Riku and Ed sped off across the bridge. The two quickly came to the space where the bridge had a gap. Riku jumped about a foot before the end of the side they were on, and he barely made the landing. Ed wondered why he jumped so soon but had no time because he needed to catch up. Ed's foot reached the edge of the gap and pushed off the boards. As soon as he lifted his other foot, the board crumbled and broke, sending Ed falling. Riku turned around to see Ed jumping up from the sandy ground, giving him a laugh then climbing the ladder of the tower. _'OK, he obviously knew about that.'_ Ed thought, but didn't have any more time to think about it because Riku was already speeding down the zip line. Ed saw the small ledge where Sora and Riku had returned from on their race. He immediately sped over to it, jumping down the ledge, and lunging forward. He saw Riku running up a slanted path, and ran towards it. Ed got to the beginning of the path, looking up to see Riku tap a star-shaped palm tree.

"Got to tag it," Riku yelled to him jogging back to the finish line. Ed ran to the tree and touched it, quickly running back to the ledge. Riku turned towards the bridge and looked back to see Ed running strait down below the bridge, which helped him catch up to Riku. Ed was right under Riku, until Riku took a long jump, landing beside Kairi once more.

"Winner!" she yelled. Sora gave a depressed sigh. Ed walked up to them, feeling rather upset.

"You almost had me there, Ed. I mean, I expected you to go a lot slower considering your legs are so _short _and all." Ed snapped at this comment.

"**Who are you calling a half-pint, bean sprout, shrimp so small** **he can't even be seen with a magnifying glass!"** Ed yelled flailing his arms.

Riku and the others were thunderstruck. Never had any of them seen or heard anyone get that mad or yell that loud in their entire lives. "Hey, wait a second, he didn't say anything like that," Kairi argued.

"Well he was thinking it!" Ed yelled, still temperamental about the comment. Not everyone in the world was a beanstalk!

"O-K, uh… could you guys help me with something? If were going to leave tomorrow then were going to need some supplies you know. So will you help me?" Riku and Sora nodded to Kairi, Ed seemed to calm down a bit and she took that as a yes. She gave them each a list of things she wanted them to get, then Sora asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to finish up on the raft."

"That's Highwind, Kairi," Riku said, rubbing Sora and Edward's defeat in their faces.

"Right, I'm going to finish up on Highwind," she said with a giggle in her voice. The four split up to do their chores. Riku was catching some fish, Sora was gathering some extra supplies and mushrooms, and Ed was getting some coconuts.

"Hey, Ed. Do you think you could help me carry these logs?" Sora asked him. He was getting some extra wood for Kairi and was having a little trouble holding them all.

"Yeah, no problem," he answered. Ed had finished getting all the coconuts that they needed and had already given them to Kairi.

"Thanks," Sora said, relieved to have some of the weight taken off his arms. They started walking back towards the raft and Sora became curious. "Hey Ed, are you going to come with us to see new worlds? I mean you never really told us you wanted to come and we didn't really ask. So do you want to?" Sora didn't want to leave his new friend on some island he hardly been on for a day, he wanted Ed to be able to see new worlds too. Ed stopped walking at this question. "Come on Ed. It'd be really great if you came with us and their's plenty of room on the raft for you. What do you say?"

Ed thought a moment. "I'm not sure. I just want to go home, and sailing across an ocean doesn't sound like the most promising of things. And besides I have to find my brother. We were in the same room when that strange thing happened and I got sent here."

"Hmm, well maybe he got sent to a different world. We could find that world and you'd get to see him again. Come on, please say you'll come."

Ed didn't know what to say. It sounded like a good plan, considering he seemed to be nowhere on this island, so he probably got sent to another world. But then again Alphonse could have died in that transmutation. His armor did collapse and wasn't moving at all. But Edward wouldn't accept that. His little brother was not dead.

----------------------------------------

"Hey guys guess what!" Sora exclaimed running up to Riku and Kairi, with Ed close behind. "Ed's going to come with us!"

----------------------------------------

"This is going to be great," Sora said leading Ed through his house. It had gotten late and Kairi said it was best that they get a good night sleep before going on their journey, and Ed chose to stay with Sora for the night. Sora led him to a messy room with clothes and books and toys all over the floor. "Sorry it's so messy. We don't have a guest room and I wasn't expecting anybody, you know." Ed nodded. Sora had wanted him to sleep on the couch, but Ed didn't want any questions from Sora's parents. So he said that a blanket in his room would do fine. Sora laid out a sleeping bag on a bare space on the floor. "There you go."

"Thanks," Ed said giving a yawn. He laid down on the sleeping bag; tired from all the work they had to do. Sora plopped down on his bed, not feeling the least bit tired. He was too excited about the thought of going to new worlds.

"Hey Ed."

"Yeah?"

Sora sat up in his bed, "What's your world like? You never told us."

Ed sat up; he wasn't exactly sure how he should answer that. "Well, it's a lot different than here. We've got lot's more technology and such. And there aren't any islands that I'm too familiar with. There are a lot of big cities and towns and countries."

"Cool, sounds like it'd be real fun to explore."

"It can get pretty exciting, I guess."

"What about your brother, what's his name?"

"It's Alphonse, Al for short."

"Any other friends?"

"Well, there's one girl named Winry, kind of sensitive. Now she's a real machine freak! She loves technology. When we were kids Al and I would always hang out with her."

"Don't you guys see each other still?"

"Not as much, since Al and I travel around a lot. But we meet up every once in a while." Ed answered, remembering his friend's face.

Sora looked over the edge of his bed. "You really miss 'em, don't you?" Edward nodded. "Hah! No problem, Ed. We'll find you friends, I promise!"

This cheered Edward up. "Thanks, Sora. Anyway, we should get some sleep." Ed lay back down and turned on his side.

Sora leaned back down. "Hey Ed, earlier you said before you ended up here a 'strange thing' happened. What was it?"

Ed sighed tiredly. "I'll tell you another time; right now we need to get some sleep." Sora lay once again on his pillow with his hands behind his head, still not tired. Dreaming of the worlds to come.

----------------------------------------

"Ed wake up, wake up!" Sora yelled shaking him awake.

"What is it?" Ed sat up rubbing his eyes.

"There's a storm outside!"

Ed was wide awake now, "The raft!"

----------------------------------------

Sora and Ed rowed their small canoe as fast as they could. Ed jumped onto the docks as Sora tied up the boat. "Hey, aren't these the same boats Riku and Kairi left on?" Ed asked pointing to two other canoes that were tied near Sora's.

"They must have come back like we did." Sora jumped onto the docks, grabbed Ed's left hand and started running. "We have to find them!" Ed and Sora ran towards the old shack and took a look inside. Neither Kairi nor Riku were inside. The two boys were about to leave the shack when it started to rain heavily. Ed and Sora rushed inside.

"That sure came fast," Ed said wiping some water off of his coat.

"Yeah," Sora said rustling his hair, "No kidding." The two boys sat for a moment as the raindrops pounded against the walls. After waiting a minute or two, the rain stopped. "OK, the weather's sure acting weird. Come on, we need to see if the raft's all right." Sora reached for the handle and was about to open it, but stopped when he heard a clawing at the other side of the door. The clawing halted and Sora opened the door to find no one. He and Ed walked out of the shack and still saw no sign of anyone.

"What's that!" Sora yelled pointing to a short black creature.

"It looks like some kind of bug," Ed said. It had a large round head with a little body. It had long creeping fingers, antennas and huge yellow eyes. It moved strangely, like a nervous or frightened person and kept moving its head around like it were looking for something. Apparently it hadn't seen Sora or Ed. "Hey, let's get away from that thing." Sora gave a nod in agreement and the two slowly backed away from it.

"Ah!" Sora screamed. Ed turned around to see what was wrong. Sora was surrounded by a whole group of the creatures. They were huddled around him making it look like a giant black puddle with eyes everywhere.

Ed ran forward and reached out his hand but was stopped when the creatures jumped at him, slashing at him with their long fingers and tearing up his coat. Ed tried to reach Sora but there were too many of them. Ed knew he'd never reach Sora like this and ran around to the shack to see if he could climb the stairs and jumped down from above. The little black creatures lost interest in Sora and jumped after Ed. Sora ran after them and saw that the creatures had surrounded Ed far from the shack.

"Ed!" Sora took a step forward.

"No! Get out of here, I'll be fine!"

Sora was hesitant, but took off into the shack and climbed the stairs.

_'Well, looks like I've got no other choice.'_ Ed clapped his hands and put his palms on the ground. Suddenly, the sand around him flew up and engulfed the heartless, drowning them in the soft sand. Sora reached the top of the stairs just in time to see the sand settle from Ed's transmutation. He gave a sigh of relief not giving any thought to how Ed did it. He looked up and saw Riku across the bridge on the small piece of land with the paopu tree. Sora ran forward to him.

"Riku, let's go we need to find Kairi!"

"Don't worry about that right now Sora, she's fine."

"What?" Sora turned around and saw a dark hole appearing under Riku's feet. "Riku!"

Riku held out his hand as his feet sank into the hole. "Are you afraid, Sora?"

"Riku!" Sora ran towards Riku, as a new dark hole appeared right under his feet, pulling him in like quicksand. He thrust out his hand grabbing for Riku's, but something dark was blinding him. "Riku!"

"I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Sora heard him say. Sora flailed his hand blindly but still couldn't reach his friend's.

"Riku!" Suddenly a blinding white light shot in Sora's eyes. He closed them, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"What's that?" Ed looked up to see a light surrounding Sora, but another light distracted him. It was coming from the Secret Place, as they had called it, and it made Ed feel uneasy. Ed walked into the cave and saw a large figure in a brown trench coat. "And just who the hell are you?" Ed demanded. His hands were held up, ready to clap if the person did something tricky. All the person did was give a deep chuckle and disappeared in a dark cloud.

Sora opened his eyes. He had fallen on his rear and was lying on the ground. He sat up and looked at his hands. There was a strange object in his hand. It was shaped like a key but it looked as hard as a sword. And it wasn't pocket sized, it was huge. It had to be about half as tall as him. It was silver except on the handle, which was golden. It also had a short key chain on the end; it was silver with three circles that looked like-to Sora- a mouse head. A word suddenly popped into his head. "Keyblade." _'So this is a Keyblade,' _he thought.

Ed ran out of the Secret Place. He saw Sora standing on the island with the paopu tree. He was holding a large object but Ed couldn't tell what it was from that far away. "Hey Sora, you all right?" he called.

"I'm doing great," Sora called back facing Ed.

"Great, I'll be up in a second."

"OK."

Ed walked to the shack and pulled the handle, noticing something pop up behind Sora. Ed ran into the shack and up the stairs. Sora saw him run out of the shack and began to run along the bridge. "Sora! Move! Get out of there!" Sora looked at him confused. "Move!" he heard him say again. Sora turned around to find a huge black monster. It was as tall as two houses and it had large muscles. Sora suddenly got into a fighting stance, holding his weapon with two hands. The dark monster pulled its fist up. Ed came up behind Sora with his hands close together. The monster swung its hand down and smashed it against the ground, creating a dark hole around it. The little bug-like creatures the two boys had seen before sprung from the hole, flailing their long slinky fingers at Sora and Ed. Ed kicked and punched the creatures with his Automail. Sora swung at them with his new weapon.

"Ed, how are we going to beat it?" Sora asked hitting each of the little creatures that came near him.

"I've got an idea but I'm not sure it will work."

"Let's try it." Sora insisted. Ed nodded. He ran over to the paopu tree, knocking the little creatures in the head.

"You ready?" Ed called as the large monster stood up. Sora nodded as the monster swung its hand up then down. "Now!" Ed clapped his hands and touched the tree. The tree suddenly came to life and grew. It swung up and around, blocking the monsters fist only a foot before it hit Sora. Sora stared at the tree open mouthed. Ed made the tree swing around the monster and tighten. It stopped the monster from moving and also made it lean down. Sora was in awe as he looked at the tree. "Sora, hit its head!" Sora snapped out of his trance.

"Uh, right." He ran forward and started slashing at the monsters head. Every time Sora hit it, it struggled more and more to get out of the vines. Ed made the tree squeeze tighter on the monster, he knew it wouldn't last much longer; the monster would break the tree soon. The monster gave one last thrust with its elbows, crushing the trunk of the tree. It began to stand up strait again. Sora jumped onto its shoulder and kept slashing at its head.

"Sora!"

"I'll be fine, just distract it," Sora called back slashing at the monsters head still. Ed nodded to Sora, figuring this was the best thing to do right now. Ed clapped his hands and took his right glove off his Automail turning it into a blade. He ran forward slashing at the monsters feet. It waved its arms trying to hit Edward, but he was jumping quickly out of its reach. The monster finally gave up on Ed and grabbed at his shoulder, throwing Sora off. Sora flew to the ground. Ed clapped his hands; touched the ground and the sand under Sora flew up. Sora fell on it as it lowered slowly.

"You OK?" Ed asked helping Sora up. Sora nodded looking at Ed's Automail arm. "All right we need to kill that damn thing now."

"Could you do something like you did with the tree?"

Edward's eyes darted around. "Yeah, go distract it." Sora ran towards the monster and began throwing rocks and slashing at it's feet.

"Hey, ugly. Come and get me," Sora yelled. The monster turned its head and stared at Sora with its beady yellow eyes. It raised its fist and swung down. Sora looked behind it to see Ed clap and put his hands on a couple of rocks. The rocks burst into large spikes, Ed clapped again touching the sandy ground. The sand burst up sending the spikes flying. The spikes hit the monster, striking its head and stomach. The monster stopped moving and fell to its knees. Sora and Ed didn't lower their guard. The monster raised its hand, which seemed to do nothing. Then a strong wind came carrying the monster up into the sky. Sora and Edward clung to a nearby rock.

"I can't hold on Ed," Sora said as his hands slipped off the rock. Ed grabbed his hand while holding the rock with his Automail.

"We're…going to make it," Ed said gripping the rock tighter and tighter. The wind gusts strengthened and Ed's hands slipped, sending Sora and himself into the sky.

* * *

**(A/N)**

Yay! We're leavin' Desiny Islands, even if it is a nice place.

Review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own none...

Warning: Video game content! 0.0

**

* * *

**

Chapter Five

"Gawrsh, your world disappeared too, Jiminy?" asked a tall dog-like creature.

"It sure did," answered a little cricket wearing a top hat and suit. "As far as I know I'm the only one who made it to this castle."

"Yeah, yeah, that's terrible," grumped a white duck. "Why the hell do we always get these stupid jobs anyway?"

"Come on Donald. You saw the King's letter. We're important, he needs us to restore the world border."

"That's 'order', Goofy."

"Ahyuk, right, world order." The characters were walking down a long winding staircase.

"Why again are you coming along?" Donald asked looking at the little cricket – Jiminy.

"The King wanted me to keep an eye on you, and record data on some of the Heartless we run into." Donald gave a disdainful sigh.

"And him?" gesturing to a yellow-orange dog following them down the steps.

"Well I just thought Pluto might be able to help us track down the Keyblade Master, o' course," Goofy answered. Donald gave another sigh and rolled his eyes. They reached the end of the stairs and opened a door. The new room had white walls everywhere and large machines and gizmos moving around. Donald made a gesture to a high-up room with two little chipmunks in it, one had a small black nose the other had a large red one. The red nosed chipmunk hit a button, shutting off the lights.

Donald pushed a button on a console and yelled, "Not that button, Dale! Chip, you do it!" The black-nosed chipmunk – Chip – pushed a button and the lights flashed on, and then he hit another button that sent three large hands over to the group. The hands picked the three up, with Jiminy on Goofy's shoulder. The hands dropped them all into a red and yellow ship. Donald sat up and pushed a button, "All right get us the hell out of here," he demanded grumpily. Dale pushed a large red button and the floor under the ship opened up, sending the group falling down a hole. They popped out of the hole into outer space. Donald pushed a lever forward and they gunned away from the large world with the castle.

----------------------------------------

"Are you all right?" said a voice. Ed could tell it was a woman. He opened his eyes to see a young woman with short black hair and dark eyes. She had a white headband and a yellow scarf. She was wearing a green tube top with two blue straps. Her shorts were a pale yellow color, with a loose blue belt. She had orange fingerless gloves and a net material going up her arms. Her shoes were orange with white socks that covered most of her legs.

"I think so." The girl offered him a hand and helped him up.

"That's good, I was just looking for someone when I saw you. I thought you might have gotten attacked by the Heartless 'cause your clothes are all ripped up." Ed looked down at himself and saw his coat had been slashed and his pants were a bit ripped up.

"Hmm? What's a Heartless?"

"You don't know? They're evil creatures that attack people and steal their hearts. I was sure you had gotten attacked, this district is usually swarming with them." Ed suddenly remembered the attack on Destiny Islands.

"Wait, are Heartless little black creatures with big yellow eyes!"

"Yeah, that's it. So you were attacked. Although some of them aren't as small as those, there are really big ones but the ones around here couldn't be any bigger than either of us. There are different types of them roaming around. Different shapes, sizes, colors, you get the idea." Ed remembered the big one Sora and he fought right before they got sucked into the sky. _'Damn it! I don't know where Sora is!'_

The girl looked up and down Ed. "Hey, you're from another world aren't you?" Ed was surprised at her comment.

"Why would-"

"No need to worry. Most of the people around here got transported here when their worlds were destroyed. And besides no one I know has a metal arm…or leg." Ed looked at his clothes. The rips and tares made his polished Automail fairly visible. "Don't worry about that, we can get some cloth in town and fix it right up. Follow me Mister… um, what's your name?"

"Edward Elric, you?"

"Yuffie Kisaragi."

----------------------------------------

"Donald, Jiminy, look!" Goofy said pointing to the sky. "A star's going out!" The three looked at the sky as a bright star vanished from the sky.

"Damn it! The King said that's what happens when a world is destroyed! Come on, Goofy. We need to find that Keyblade the King was talking about."

"Right." The couple – Jiminy riding along Goofy's shoulder – made their way up a few steps when the dog, Pluto, started sniffing the ground. "What's up Pluto?" The dog gave a couple of barks and ran off to the left as Donald went right. "Eh, Donald I think we ought to-"

"Oh, what do you know you big Palooka?"

"Hmm, what do I know?" Goofy turned and followed Donald, "Come on Pluto," he yelled to the dog without looking back. Pluto looked to Goofy and gave one last bark then jogged into the ally on the left. He sniffed around the ground and came upon a spiky haired boy, Sora. He sniffed at his feet then jumped up and gave Sora a big slobbery kiss on his face. Sora's eyes zipped open and he immediately wiped away the slobber from the dog's tongue.

"Ack, yuck, get off me!" Sora said giggling as Pluto began to pounce on and lick him again. "Stop it, stop it." Pluto finally calmed down and wagged his tail madly. Sora wiped his face and looked around. "This isn't Destiny Islands." He was sitting in the corner of a dark ally between a couple of boxes and barrels. Pluto nudged his leg, barked and ran out of the ally. "Hey, wait boy, or girl, just come here!" Pluto stuck his head back in the ally and barked again, then ran off. Sora chased after him. Pluto was out of sight but Sora was now in a larger area. There were a few buildings and walls were all over the place. The ground was a brown brick and most of the buildings had the same brown roof shingles. Only a few people, and a strange white creature with a red ball antenna, were in the area. Sora looked at the people. Most of them didn't have a very happy expression on their faces. Sora looked at a kid who was leaning against a lamppost. He was about to call out 'Tidus' but took a closer look at him and realized that that was not his friend from home. Sora turned around to see a door with a sign above it that said 'Accessory' on it. Sora took a deep breath and walked in.

It was a small shop with a fireplace, table, couch and some jewelry in a glass window. "Hello, how can- aw crap. Hey kid you mind getting out of here?" said a grumpy man. He had blond hair and goggles. His t-shirt was white and he had baggy blue pants. Around his waist was a large brown waistband and his shoes were black.

"My names not 'kid' it's Sora, and I'm fourteen."

"Whatever, ya look lost and this ain't the candy store. So if ya don't mind, move it or lose it."

"I'm not looking for any candy store! Plus I'm not lost...well, I might be. Where is the place?"

"Huh?" After a few minutes of conversation Sora told the man about the attack on Destiny Islands and waking up in this town, and the man told him about the place.

"So, this place is called Traverse Town? This really is another world, huh Gramps?"

"Eh, the names Cid! An' it sure is another world 'cause I ain't never heard of no islands."

"I wonder if my friends are here."

"One of 'em's bound to show up here. Lot's of people lately have been poppin' up out o' nowhere."

"Great, then I better start looking. Thanks for the help Gramps," Sora said leaving the shop.

"Hey," he said stopping Sora. "Look, if yer havin' any trouble or questions you can come to me."

"Thanks, I will." Sora then walked away.

"And that's Cid! Cid Highwind!" He yelled after him. "You'd best remember that!"

----------------------------------------

Donald and Goofy walked through a door. This area had a stream of water flowing into a hole, which was closed off by bars. "Ggggggaaaaaahhh!" Donald yelled. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I can't believe we still haven't found that freaking Keyblade!"

"Gawrsh, if we don't then we'll never be able to help the King. And it's kind of spooky here."

"Ah, don't be such a chic- AAAAHHHH!" Donald freaked out as he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He jumped onto Goofy's shoulders in fright.

"Oh, I'm so sorry if I scared you," said a feminine voice. Donald and Goofy turned to see a woman with greenish-blue eyes. Her hair was down to her hips in a braid, she had two red ribbons in them, her bangs reached about halfway down her face and she had two thick curls in front of her ears that reached to her shoulders. She wore a pink spaghetti-strapped dress, and a blue belt. She had brown shoes and about eight metal silver bracelets on her left arm. "Did the King send you?"

----------------------------------------

"No sign of them," whined Sora, collapsing on his rear. He had walked around a lot of Traverse Town, but had not seen a soul except for some of the weird creatures that had popped up. Sora didn't want to have to carry the Keyblade – as he thought it was called – around all the time, so he set it in the back of his belt and took it out when the monsters attacked. He was exhausted, sweaty and could barely walk. Sora reluctantly got up and began to find his way back to Cid's shop. On his way, he saw a door that he hadn't seen on his rounds around the place. He walked inside to find a normal looking house with a few rooms. It was completely empty, not including the furniture. Sora entered the last room and found two Dalmatian dogs laying on the floor whimpering. Sora walked and kneeled down next them.

"What's wrong you two?" Sora asked giving them scratches on their backs. The two dogs' tails weren't wagging and they kept whimpering. Sora noticed one of the dogs was looking at a picture. Sora took a look and saw a little Dalmatian puppy. Sora then remembered various pictures across the rooms of other little puppies. "Oh, did you lose your puppies?" The dog looked at him and gave a small bark. "Don't worry uh…" Sora quickly examined the dog, "Girl, your puppies will come back." Sora took a look at the other dog, which was staring at another picture on top of a piano. "Come here…Boy. Come here." The dog walked slowly over to Sora and he gave him a big belly rub. Sora's attention seemed to cheer the dogs up a little, but when Sora walked out of the house he could hear them whimpering through the door.

Sora walked back to the first district and plopped down on the couch in the Accessory shop. "Still didn't find 'em, Sora?" asked Cid.

"Not a trace. Oh, do you know about any dogs in the second or third district?"

"Hmm, there might'a been some, but I ain't the expert on those things."

"Oh, OK." Sora hopped off the couch, he had taken a nice load off and had some energy back. "I think I'm going to ask some of the other people around here if they might have seen them."

"All right, be careful." Sora nodded and walked out. He walked forward and took one step down the short staircase when he heard someone say, "They'll come at you out of nowhere, and keep coming because you wield the Keyblade. But why the hell did a kid like you get it?"

Sora turned around to see a man with brown hair that reached his shoulders and was spiked at the end. His eyes were blue and a scar lingered between them. He wore a white t-shirt, a black, short-sleeved leather jacket with a short red cross with what looked like a lion's head at the top, on each sleeve. The same cross shape hung around his neck as a silver necklace. He had black gloves, black pants, and black shoes. On his hips was one black belt that was strapped through the pants loopholes, two brown belts and another black one hanging loosely at his waist.

"Hey, what did you call me?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's see that Keyblade."

"What? No way am I going to give it to you!"

The man gave a sigh. "Fine, have it your way." He then pulled something from behind him.

In his right hand he pulled out a strange sword. The handle was about the size of a regular swords, but slightly curved. Attached to the handle was what looked like a gun barrel and a trigger. Out of the barrel was the blade. Hanging from the handle was the same lion head cross as a key chain.

The man pointed the sharp end at Sora and lunged forward. Sora jumped out of the way and grabbed the Keyblade from his belt. The man thrust his weapon at Sora again, this time Sora blocked him and forced him back. The man took a little stumble and Sora swung at him as hard as he could. The stranger quickly caught his balance and swung his sword, making Sora fly to the other side of the walkway and bang his head against the hard wall of one of the shops.

Sora's head pounded, but he got up as fast as he could because he knew the stranger wasn't going to stop until he got his hands on the Keyblade. Sora got to his knees when a sharp jab came in contact with his stomach. The man kicked him hard again, this time in the head. Sora began to get a headache. The man kicked again and just in time Sora threw out the Keyblade blocking his foot. Sora jumped up swinging the Keyblade, jabbing the man in the head. He jumped back and Sora stood all the way up, trying not to show how much his stomach and head hurt.

_'Dang it,' _Sora thought, _'this guy's way too strong; I'll never be able to beat him. I've only grazed him a little, but I feel like I could pass out any second now.'_ The man raised his weapon again to Sora. _'But…I can't let him have this. I won't let him!' _

Sora ran forward and slashed at the man, aiming for his head. He was right in front of him when a red flair shoved him back. Sora collided with the ground and looked at his chest. His shirt had burn marks on it and it felt warm. Sora looked up. The man pointed the blade at him again. Sora saw the blade light up in an orange-red color, and then heard a small click, like a trigger and a red fireball flew at Sora. Barely dogging the fireball, he fell flat on his face and looked at the wall it had hit. The wall had singe marks on it and it was lightly smoking. Sora saw another red light from the corner of his eye and turned to see a flame ball right in front of him. The flame sent him flying against the brick wall again, but this time he couldn't get up.

_'No…I can't…let him have it. I…won't…let…him…'_ Sora's eyes began to feel heavier and heavier. He squinted and looked up to see a fuzzy picture of the man looking down on him. Sora's eyes then closed and he lost consciousness.

* * *

**(A/N)**

What's gonna happen to Sora? Does Yuffie really want Ed fully-clothed(I sure don't!)! Is Donald really that much of a pottymouth? And is no one disturbed by Donald not wearing any pants! Find out on the next chapter of...(bum,bum,bum) **_Heart of an Alchemist_**

(ooh, stupid ending spasm!)


	6. Chapter 6

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own neither FullMetal Alchemist nor Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"Follow me, there's someone I want you to meet," Yuffie said skipping along the walkway. "Since he wasn't in the hotel, he's probably hanging out in the first district." Ed followed her up the steps of the second district, past a little waterfall. "We're really lucky, there seems to be hardly any Heartless around today."

"Yeah, but I bet pounding a few of them might help me feel a little better."

"Yep, the Heartless are good stress-relievers, that's for sure. Um, Ed, can I ask you something?"

"Hnn? Oh, sure."

"How did you fix your clothes so fast?" she questioned looking at his newly fixed coat. "I mean at the hotel I gave you the cloth and stuff, but I only left for a minute to look if anyone else was in the hotel. When I got back in there your clothes looked brand new. I can't even see the stitch lines on your jacket."

"Oh, that? It's just a little trick I learned."

"Well you'll just have to show me show me sometime then, 'cause my poor headband's always getting ripped up," she told him pinching her cheek. The two walked up to the door leading to the town square in the first district.

"So who's this guy we're going to meet?"

"His name's Squall, but I suggest you call him Leon."

"Why?"

"'Cause otherwise he'll probably strike you with a blunt object."

"O-K then."

"Hehe, don't get me wrong," she said pushing the door open, "He's a nice-" Yuffie cut off. Ed looked in front of her to see a brown haired man shoot a red flair from his gun at someone, sending them flying against a wall.

"Ah, Sora!" Ed exclaimed running up and jumping in between the two. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing!" Ed yelled, leaning down by his unconscious friend.

"Leon!" Yuffie ran forward and gave him a small punch on the shoulder. "What in the world are you doing to-" the key shaped weapon in Sora's hand caught her eye. "Is that the Keyblade? Is that the Keyblade Master?"

"Yeah," he replied simply.

"Oh, OK, you had me worried for a second."

"Hey!" yelled Edward, "Mind telling me what that was about?"

"Oh, come on Ed. Let's take him to the hotel. I'll tell you on the way there."

----------------------------------------

Sora opened his eyes to find himself looking up at a ceiling. He turned his head to see a square shaped room with a table and couch. "How'd I get here?" Sora sat up as someone came into the room.

"Oh, you're awake." Sora looked at her surprised. _'It's Kairi!'_

"How are you?" she asked. "I imagine you're a little hurt, seeing as you were attacked by the Heartless and then Leon."

"Heartless?"

"Those are the creatures that attacked you on your world."

"So that's what they're called."

"I see Ed fixed up the cuts and burns on your clothes, too."

"Wait a second, Kairi. Did you say Ed was here?"

"Huh, Kairi? I think you're mistaken. I'm the great ninja Yuffie Kisaragi," she proclaimed giving a friendly salute. Sora blinked and shook his head. Kairi had disappeared and in her place was a woman with black hair. "Squall, I think you overdid it."

"That's Leon." The brown haired man replied.

"Hey you're that guy that attacked me!" Sora said jumping up and holding out his fists. Yuffie jumped in front of him.

"Now, now Sora. No need to cause a fight. Leon's not goin' to hurt you again." Sora lowered his fists.

"Hey, how do you know my name?"

"Edward told me. We met up a bit ago and found you and Leon fighting."

"Is he still here?"

"Don't worry he'll be back soon, he said he was just going for a little walk."

"Oh, OK." Sora looked at Yuffie then Leon. "Um, why did you attack me?"

"He needed to get the Keyblade away from you," stated Yuffie. "Leon asked Cid if he'd seen any Heartless and he told him that you were getting attacked, but he asked some others and they haven't seen a trace of them in a while. Apparently they were tracking you down with it."

"I only did it to conceal your heart from them," said Leon. "It won't stop them for very long though." Leon held out his arm with the Keyblade. It disappeared in a flash and reappeared in Sora's hand. "I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Arg, you aren't making any sense at all!"

----------------------------------------

"Your name's Aerith, wasn't it?" Donald asked the lady in the pink dress.

"Yes Aerith Gainsborough," she replied.

"All right then, could you tell us what's going on around here?"

"Yes. You know there are other worlds out there other than your castle and this town, right?"

"Yeah," Goofy said, "But aren't they supposed to be a secret?"

"Well they have been because the worlds were never connected. But when the Heartless came they changed everything."

"Heartless were those black creatures that we saw lurking outside right?"

----------------------------------------

"Creatures without hearts," Leon said to Sora. "The Heartless are attracted by the darkness in people's hearts, and there is darkness in every heart."

"Have you ever heard of a man named Ansem?" asked Yuffie.

----------------------------------------

"Not that I know of. Donald?" Donald shook his head at Goofy.

"He was doing research on the Heartless, and wrote his findings in a very detailed report," explained Aerith.

"Can we see them?"

"The reports were scattered across a various amount of the worlds. I think that might be why your King left."

"He went to find them."

"Then that means we need to go to the other worlds and find him," said Goofy.

"Wait, first we need that 'key' he was talking about."

----------------------------------------

"So this Keyblade is the 'key'?"

"Yes. The Heartless have great fear of it, that's why they'll keep coming after you."

"But I didn't ask for this."

"The Keyblade chooses its own master, sorry Sora," Yuffie said.

"Yuffie," Leon said, "Aerith should have our other guests by now."

"Right I'll go get her." Yuffie turned around to open a door when suddenly the window behind them shattered and a Heartless flew in on the floor.

"Yuffie, go!" Leon ordered. Yuffie ran to the door only to find more Heartless appearing in the hallway. She ran passed them and pushed through a red door.

"Aerith!" she said closing the door behind her.

"Yuffie? What's going on?" Yuffie grabbed a vase that was on a table next to her, and threw it at the room window, shattering it to pieces. "Yuffie, what's wrong?"

"Heartless! We need to get out of here fast!" Yuffie grabbed Aerith's hand and pulled her to the window.

"But what about the Keyblade Master? Did you find him?"

"Keyblade Master!" Donald and Goofy yelled together.

"He's fine, Leon's with him in the other room. Come on!" Yuffie pulled Aerith to the window and they jumped together. Goofy started for the window, but Donald caught him.

"Goofy, she said the Keyblade Master was in here somewhere we need to find him."

"Ahyuk, let's go find 'im then." Goofy and Donald checked all the rooms as quickly as they could without getting hit by too many Heartless. "Donald, I don't think he's here!"

"Then were just going to have to go look for him then won't we?"

----------------------------------------

"Don't bother with the small fry, we need to find the leader." Sora nodded to Leon as they ran down through the second district. Heartless were jumping every which way at them, but Sora and Leon weren't having too much trouble with them. They came near one door that was completely covered with Heartless. "It looks like this is where most of them are coming from. Sora, go through that door, I'll hold them off so they can't get in."

"All right." Sora ran strait through the Heartless, slashing his way to the door. Leon was behind him and blocked any Heartless from getting through the door as Sora went.

----------------------------------------

Donald and Goofy looked down from a high platform in the third district. "Damn it, this place is completely empty," Donald yelled slamming his fist on the balcony.

"Really, then who's that?" Goofy pointed to a figure that had just walked in through the door. Donald took a look at him.

"He's got the Keyblade Goofy!"

"Gawrsh, how do we get down there? It's pretty far." The two were looking over the balcony; not noticing that two Heartless had popped up behind them. Goofy looked behind him and taped Donald on the shoulder.

"What is-- Gah!" The heartless charged at them sending them flying through the air, and landing right on top of Sora! Sora pushed them off and pointed the Keyblade at them. "Wait, wait, don't hit us!"

"Huh, who are you? You'd better not be trying to steal the Keyblade."

"Oh no we're-" Goofy started, but was cut short when a bunch of Heartless that looked like they had on metal armor helmets appeared.

"Damn it!" Donald yelled. He threw his hand in the air. A light appeared around it and a wand materialized out of thin air. Goofy took a shield off a holder on his back. "Let's get 'em!" The three all ran in different directions. Sora slashed at the Heartless, Donald used magic spells, and Goofy used his shield to ricochet their attacks back at them. After a few minutes the Heartless were gone.

"I guess that's it," Sora said lowering the Keyblade.

Suddenly a huge Heartless fell from the sky and landed, smashing the hard ground. It was taller than the Accessory shop in the first district. It looked like a bunch of armor pieces without a body inside, and a black and red heart symbol on its chest. It took one step forward then aimed its fist at Sora. Sora barely dodged its claws and fell on his rear, losing his grip on the Keyblade. The Heartless pulled up its fist for a second time and thrust it down. Sora staggered onto his feet and grabbed for the Keyblade. Looking up, Sora saw the monsters fist right in front of him. Sora closed his eyes thinking, _'This is it',_ when the Heartless' fist stopped in its tracks. Sora opened his eyes to see Edward, leaning down with his hands on the ground, and a large piece of the ground had sprung around the monsters fist.

"Ed!"

"You OK, Sora?" he asked helping him up.

"Great!" The Heartless broke through the cement bindings and thrust a leg at the two.

"Awesome, no let's kick some ass!" Ed clapped his hand turning his Automail into a blade, jumping out of the way of the Heartless' attack.

"_Thunder!_" Donald yelled as a thin stroke of lightning came down from the sky, only stunning it for a second. The Heartless took a step forward, put its arms out to its side, and swung them around like a tornado, sending Ed and Goofy flying into the walls surrounding them. Ed flew and landed on a large wire that was split open. He looked at it and got an idea.

"Hey! The duck with no pants! Do you know any more spells?" he called out.

"Yeah, Fire and Blizzard," Donald told him.

'_Perfect,'_ Edward thought.

"Come here! Sora and the guy with the shield, distract it!" Donald ran over to Ed and he quickly told him what to do.

"If you say so." Donald and Edward ran behind the Heartless while Sora and Goofy distracted it. Ed clapped and touched the ground, creating a large hole. "_Blizzard!_" Donald yelled. He pointed his wand at the hole and held the spell for a minute, creating a huge block of ice. He then called out, "_Fire!_" and a bunch of flaming balls hit the ice, melting it into a giant puddle. Ed moved the hole out of the ground making it into a giant bowl. He moved it to where it hovered over the Heartless's head.

"Now!" Ed made the giant bowl turn over, soaking the Heartless from head to toe.

"_Thunder!_" Donald exclaimed. A thin stroke of lightning came down from the sky smashing into the Heartless. Sparks surrounded the Heartless for a minute then it turned for Sora, and spun its arms around wildly.

"Damn, it didn't work," Ed said slamming his fist on the ground. Sora threw out the Keyblade to block and only was pushed back a little.

"Wait, Ed. That attack wasn't too powerful. Maybe if you hit it again or hit it with a more powerful attack then we can beat it!"

"But I don't think I can get a better Thunder attack than that," Donald argued.

"What about this here cable, huh?" Goofy asked, pointing to the large cable Ed had fallen on earlier.

"That's it! Sora and-"

"Goofy."

"Right, try and get it to touch the cable, and you hit the cable with a lightning attack right when it does." Everyone nodded. Goofy and Sora stood in front of the cable waiting for the Heartless to strike. The monster's fist came down to them and they dodged just in time, its fist smashed into the cable.

"_Thunder!_" Donald's attack hit the cable, sending a huge serge of electricity through the Heartless. It finally backed away from the cable, staggering to stay on its feet.

"Now, you're mine!" Sora jumped up the Heartless's arm and knocked off its helmet with a powerful blow from the Keyblade. Hopping off its shoulders, the Heartless fell onto the ground. A white light surrounded it and its body disappeared. Sora noticed a glowing heart fly away from the light.

"Hey, Sora. You OK?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just glad it's over."

"Don't count on it." Sora and the others turned to see Leon, Yuffie and Aerith walking towards them.

"What's that supposed to mean, Leon?"

----------------------------------------

"So, you guys were looking for me?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy.

"Uh-huh," they answered together.

"They too, were sent to find the wielder of the Keyblade," said Aerith.

"Hey, maybe you could come with us, ahyuk," Goofy suggested.

"I'm not so sure, I might find Riku and Kairi if I go though."

"Of course you will, they're bound to be on one of the worlds out there," said Donald.

Goofy bent down and whispered in Donald's ear, "Are you sure?"

"No, but we need to get this kid with us, no matter what," he whispered back.

"Hmm, it sounds like a good idea. Hey Ed, want to come with us?" Sora asked.

"Hey, I never said anything about that _shorty_ coming along."

"**Arg, who the hell are you calling so small he's just a pimple on the butt of the world's smallest ameba, huh!"**

"**I never said anything like that! And now that you mention it, you are about that size!"**

"**At least my brain's bigger than that! And I have pants!"**

"You guys calm down! We don't need another fight. We're all tired, so why not just get a good night's sleep, eh?"

"That's a lovely idea, Sora," Aerith said. "If you are going to start traveling tomorrow then you'll need to be at your best health."

"Grr, fine!" Ed and Donald said together, folding their arms.

----------------------------------------

A group was gathered around a table displaying a hologram of Sora and the others, in a dark room.

"So this is the wielder of the Keyblade? He seems so weak," said a woman's voice.

"He's just a little codfish if you ask me, we could easily do him in," said a man.

"Hush," said another woman with a more demanding voice. "The Keyblade Master will learn in a short time to fight. But for now, he is the one we need to keep an eye on." A long gray finger pointed to the hologram of Edward.

"What? That blond-haired, bilge rat? Why him? He's nothing to do with the Keyblade," argued the man

"If you watched that fight any bit, you would have noticed that he is experienced in battle. Besides, I think I found something he might be interested in."

----------------------------------------

_"I heard him. He was angry, but afraid at the same time. Confused. He didn't know what to do."_

Sora opened his eyes. He was lying in the bed in the green room at the hotel. _'That was a weird dream,'_ he thought. _'I didn't even see anything. Though that voice sounded almost like…'_

"Hmm, looks like I haven't been asleep that long. It's still dark outside. I think I'll go see if anyone else is up." Sora jumped out of the bed, popped on his jacket and shoes, and walked out the door. He walked to the first district and found Leon and the others sitting at some tables, drinking tea, although, Leon wasn't drinking any.

"Oh, hello Sora," Aerith called out. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not really, I mean I didn't sleep for long." Yuffie, Goofy and Aerith gave a little chuckle at this comment. "What's so funny?"

"Didn't sleep for long," Yuffie said. "You slept for a whole day."

"What, well why didn't you wake me up?"

"I did, or at least I tried. But you were so cute sleeping there, drooling on your pillow that I decided to just let you sleep a bit longer. I thought for sure you'd wake up to get some food, but I guess I can't be right all the time."

"No wonder I'm so hungry," Sora said grabbing his stomach.

"Don't worry I'll get you something."

"Thanks, Aerith."

"All right now that you finally woke up, after you eat can we please leave this town?" Donald asked.

"That'd be fine with me, hey where'd Ed go?"

"He went for a walk," Aerith said giving Sora a plate of donuts and a cup of tea. "Although I'm sure he'll be back in time for you to leave."

"I hope so," Sora said munching on the donuts.

----------------------------------------

Ed walked through the second district. He searched around and found the door to the third district. Opening it, he began walking down the steps leading to the area where he, Sora, Donald and Goofy had fought the Heartless. "Now, where did that big ol' Heartless come from?"

"Yes, a pity you don't know," he heard someone say. He turned around to see a tall pale woman in a long black dress, with a black staff in her hand.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"You may call me Maleficent."

"Maleficent, eh? And just what the hell do you want?"

"I believe I found something that might be of interest to you." Maleficent pointed her staff to her right and out of nowhere a boy appeared, lying on the ground. He had short blonde hair and short bangs that were spiked off to the right side of his face. He had on a long-sleeved white, button t-shirt, and green pants. Both were quite big on him. Ed recognized him immediately.

"Alphonse!"

* * *

**(A/N)**

Cliffhangers. Of course I wouldn't consider it a cliffhanger unless the author didn't post the next chapter in a week or so, making her or his readers die of anxiety.(I now know why Darren Shan has them in his Cirque Du Freak series so much, they're fun!) Although I was very reluctant, I just wanted to keep going and going.


	7. Chapter 7

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own none!T.T

Sorry it took so long to update. My PS2 passed on in a tragic accident recently when someone decided to leave the dishwasher door down (cough,mother,cough) causing a freak accident, so I haven't been able to look at what I needed to for Wonderland. The net is not the best place for this stuff.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"Damn it, is that shorty here yet?" Donald asked impatiently. "We've been waiting for a whole hour."

"Come on, Donald. I'm sure he'll be here any second now. Can't we just wait like ten more minutes?"

"No! We've been waiting long enough for this guy!"

"Gawrsh, he's right, Sora," Goofy said, "We really need to go to others world now."

Sora hesitated, and then gave a sigh. "I guess you're right. But I really don't want to leave him behind."

"'Ey, Sora!" someone yelled from behind them. Cid came running from the Accessory shop.

"Hey Cid. What's up?"

"Leon here told me that you guys were headed to other worlds now in some sort o' ship, am I right?"

"Wait a second, a ship? We're going to have a space ship?" Sora asked excitedly.

"Ahyuk, it's not a space ship, it's a Gummi ship," Goofy explained.

"A 'Gummy' ship?"

"Gummi. It's a type o' ship made from colored cubes called Gummi blocks," Cid said.

"So, you know about them too?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I know a bit. I work a lot with mechanics 'n stuff, so I'm good for it. If you like I could work a bit on it if it gets beat up. Maybe give it 'n upgrade or two. O' course you'd have to fly all the way back here…"

"Yeah! Then we could pick up Ed when we come back. Can we do that please, Donald?" Sora got down on his knees and gave Donald the puppy face. Donald looked at him in disgust.

"Gawrsh, Donald. I think it's the only way he'll agree. Please?" Goofy asked joining in on the puppy face. Donald looked at the two and groaned.

"Oh, fine! Just stop with that stupid face already, I'm goin' to be sick!"

"Yay!" Sora and Goofy jumped to their feet and did a little victory dance. "So when do we get to ride the space ship?" Sora asked.

"It's a Gummi ship, damn it, not a space ship! And I would like to leave now!" Donald said.

"Lead the way, captain!" Sora said energetically.

"Sora," Aerith said running up to him. "Well, in town there are two Dalmatians who's puppies have all disappeared. Leon has been very worried about them so I was wondering if you might--"

"Sure thing, Aerith." Sora gave Leon a little smirk and saw him turn his head away.

"Thank you so much Sora. Have a safe journey." Aerith gave the three a wave as they walked through a large wooden door, leaving Traverse Town behind.

"Ahem," Aerith heard. She turned around to see Leon standing right behind her. "Why did you tell him that?"

"I am just as worried about the puppies as you are Leon. They might have ended up on another world, so I was just asking for a favor."

"Aerith…" he began.

"Oh, hello Edward. Did you have a nice walk?" she said waving to Ed as he walked up to them. Ed replied with a shaky nod. Leon looked at him questionably. _'What's wrong with him? Is he sweating?"_

"Has Sora woken up yet?"

"Oh, I'm afraid he, Donald and Goofy just left. But don't worry, they promised to come back and get you as soon as they can."

"Oh, OK." Ed looked down at the ground. Aerith noticed Ed had a somewhat worried expression and the little bit if sweat running down his cheek.

"Ed, are you all right? You look kind of worn out."

"Hmm? Oh, I think I'm just tired. I think I'll head back to the hotel now."

"I think we should all get some rest. It is fairly late," Aerith said. Yuffie gave a big yawn to show she agreed, Leon gave a nod. The four then made their way back to the hotel. Cid waved and said, "Night," as he made his way back to the Accessory shop.

----------------------------------------

"Wow this is so cool! What does this button do, and this one, and this one!" Sora jumped around excitedly inside the Gummi ship. There were buttons and other various controls all over the ship.

"Stop it! Don't touch anything or you might make us explode!" Donald ordered with his hands on the steering wheel.

"Uh, but Donald, our Gummi ship wasn't made with a 'self exploit' button. Or was it?" Goofy said.

"That's 'self _explode_' Goofy, and no it wasn't."

"Ahyuk, just making sure you knew." Donald shook his head and looked at the starry space in front of him. He then felt a poke at his shoulder.

"Hey…Donald…can I fly the ship?" Sora asked giving him the puppy eyes again, repeatedly poking at Donald's shoulder.

"Erg, NO! You can't so just sit down and be quite!" Sora sat down, crossed his arms and pouted. The trip lasted about 45 minutes to an hour when Goofy suddenly said, "Hey it's another world." Sora jumped off the floor and looked out the window. He saw the world and thought it looked quite strange.

It was round with a pink and red heart checker pattern on it. Sticking out of it was a castle, a couple of trees, and a green bush balcony cut in the shape of a heart.

"Whoa, what's that place called?"

"Don't know," said Goofy, "But we're goin' to have to go there anyway. Let's go Donald."

Donald pushed a lever jetting the Gummi ship forward towards the new world.

----------------------------------------

Ed lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't get to sleep. Not after what that witch, Maleficent, had said to him.

_"Alphonse!"_

Ed ran forward and set his little brother's head on his knee. "Alphonse, Alphonse! Wake up!"

"I would not think it wise to move him," Maleficent said.

"But how… how is he here?"

"Your transmutation worked. Of course, only on your brother's body." Ed noticed Al's chest rising up and down very quickly. He was taking deep and quick gasps of breath, and there was some sweat rolling down the sides of his face.

"What…what's wrong with him?"

"His soul and heart are very weak. Even after using a tool as powerful as the Philosophers Stone."

Ed was shocked. "You know about that?"

"Yes, and I also know how you committed an unthinkable crime in your world. Human alchemy. You lost your left leg while your brother lost his entire body. You sacrificed your right arm, attaching his soul to a nearby suit of armor." Ed's eyes widened. Every horrific scene from the night he and his brother tried to revive their mother came flooding back to him. "You then joined the military to try and find information on the Philosophers Stone, which you recently did find. You managed to revive your brother's body, but you also got transported to another world in the transmutation. And of course your arm and leg-"

"I don't…I don't care. I don't care about that anymore. All that matters is that Al's body is back to normal."

Maleficent smirked, "So sorry to hear. I was hoping I could help."

Ed looked at her. "What are you saying?" Maleficent pointed the end of her staff at Ed and something happened. He could feel his arm and leg. He felt his coat and glove around his right arm, and his pant leg and boot around his left leg. Ed looked down at his arm. He hesitated, and then pulled of his right glove. Ed gasped. In front of his eyes was a real hand! "H-how did…when…how did you…do this?" Ed asked shakily staring at his right hand as the palm began to feel sweaty. Maleficent put down her staff. Ed suddenly felt his arm and leg growing cold, then felt nothing at all. He blinked and looked at his arm. It had returned to Automail again. Ed stood in shock. He had felt his arm and leg again! He stood thunderstruck for a long while before realizing that Alphonse was still in his lap gasping for breath. _'Oh, no! I have to get him to a doctor!'_ Ed pulled Al's arm over his shoulder and picked his legs up with the other hand. He stood up and began to walk off.

"If you're thinking of taking him to a doctor, it will not help," Maleficent said stopping Ed in his tracks. "His heart and soul are weak and there is little any doctor could do for that. Of course I could take care of him."

Ed suddenly realized what she was getting at. "Let me guess, there's the issue of equivalent exchange, am I right? What do you want?"

_Maleficent gave a smirk._

Ed stared at the ceiling, still shaken up from the conversation. _'What should I do?'_

----------------------------------------

"All right Donald, I don't think anyone will be able to see the Gummi ship in there," Goofy said coming out of a group of trees. They needed to make sure no one would be able to find it or they might start asking questions. Goofy looked around at a nice garden with trees and flowers and a stream running along to their right. "Where's Sora?" he asked.

"Playing with some cat he found wandering around here," Donald told him. Goofy spotted Sora a couple yards away, sitting in a patch of tall flowers. He was playing with a little brown kitten that had a white stomach and paws. There was also a pink ribbon tied around its neck in the shape of a bow.

Goofy and Donald walked up to him. "Hey Sora, what's going on?" Sora was now peaking through a hole that maybe a medium sized dog could fit through.

Sora pointed to the hole. "The cat jumped out of my hands and ran into there."

"So what? We need to be looking for the King and I don't think he's goin' to be in a hole!" Donald said. Sora rolled his eyes and went in anyway. "Sora, get out of there! We need to find somebody who can help us."

Goofy looked into the hole. "Hey Donald, I don't see him in there."

"Of course you can't see him, it's a hole." Donald put his head into the hole and yelled, "Hey Sora, get back here." Donald and Goofy waited for a moment, but heard no response from Sora. Donald grumbled. "Come on Goofy, let's pull him out." Donald forced his way into the hole and crawled on all fours, with Goofy squeezing his way in afterwards. "It's like a freaking tunnel," he said crawling down the long passageway. Donald put his hand out and fell forward slightly, he couldn't feel the ground anywhere. "Hold on Goofy- AHHH!" Goofy bumped into Donald, sending the two down a long pit. "Ahh! Goofy!" he exclaimed as they were sent falling to their doom.

"Donald, I can't see anything," Goofy said, much calmer than his little duck friend. "Wait, now I see a light. Down there." Donald looked down to see a light at the bottom of the hole.

"Oh great, that helps a lot! Now at least we know where our bodies will be found!" Donald yelled sarcastically. Goofy and Donald started flipping around and around, falling closer and closer to their doom. Goofy and Donald closed their eyes getting ready for impact, when they stopped.

Donald opened his eyes to find the two of them hanging upside down staring at none other than Sora.

"What took you two so long? I called you like fifteen times," Sora said pulling the two of them down.

"What are you talking about? You didn't say a word," Donald protested.

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Gawrsh Sora, we were probably just too far up to hear you," Goofy suggested.

"Whatever," the two said together.

"Gawrsh, this place sure is strange. Where are we?" Goofy looked around.

They were standing at the end of a long hallway. All over the brown walls were pictures and candles. The floor had a dark red and yellow checker pattern. The hall seemed slanted and the walls looked like they had been pushed down from the top somewhat.

"I don't know, but were going to find out." Sora ran forward, with Goofy and Donald right behind, coming to the end of the hall and saw a door. Sora opened it to find another door that was slightly smaller. He opened that one to find another, and another and another until it finally came to a small opening. The three of them crawled through it to find themselves in a larger room.

This room had a purple and pink, checkered floor pattern. There was a brick chimney on the right, and on the left was a short bed and two chairs. In the middle of the room was a white table and chair, and on the other side of the room was a small door that looked barely big enough for their heads.

Sora walked up to the door and got on his hands and knees. "Hey, check out how tiny this door is."

"It's not that I'm tiny, you're simply too big," spat a voice.

"Ahh! The doorknob it talked!" Sora exclaimed jumping up.

"Needn't be so loud. I've got sleep to catch up on," said the golden doorknob.

Goofy kneeled down next to it. "You can talk?" The doorknob gave a sleepy yawn and a small nod. "Well, how are we supposed to get by?"

"Drink the bottle over on the table and your stature will divide."

"Hmm, this bottle here?" Sora asked. He picked it up and took a sip.

"Feel any different Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Not really, except this stuff tastes like medicine," Sora said sticking his tongue out in disgust. Goofy and Donald looked at him strangely. "Uh, what's wrong you guys? And why are you getting so big?"

"Sora…we're not getting bigger, you're getting smaller!" Goofy exclaimed looking down at his, now, miniature sized friend.

"Wow, it really did shrink me!" Sora ran up to the doorknob and yelled, "All right let me through!"

The doorknob gave another sleepy yawn and said, "Can't. I'm locked." Sora's mouth fell open.

"What do you mean you're locked!"

"I'm locked. You can't open me unless you have my key."

"And you didn't tell me that before because…"

"You didn't ask." Sora hit his fist against his head saying, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Oh," Goofy said, "Now we'll never find the King." Donald walked over to the bed on their left and jumped up and down on it.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He yelled. He bounced up into the air and came down, the back of his webbed feet getting caught in between the wall and bedside. His feet pushed the bed away from the wall and he hit the floor. "Ow, effin' bed."

"Hey," Sora yelled jumping up and down on the floor, "There's a hole right here we can use." He pointed out a hole that had been blocked by the bed. "You guys drink that potion stuff and let's go through it."

"Alrighty then, ahyuk." Donald and Goofy drank the potion, shrunk and followed Sora into the hole.

"Dang, I can't see anything," Sora said sticking his hands out in front of him to make sure he wouldn't collide with a wall. There was no light that they could see of in the tunnel at all. "This sure is taking a long time. Are you sure this is the right way, Donald?"

"Me? This was your idea to go this- Wahh!" Donald yelled. Sora and Goofy heard a loud thump from Donald and assumed he tripped and fell.

"You OK Donald?"

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" came another voice. "I'm late, I'm late!" The group heard someone's feet start to patter off away from them.

"Hey, who are you?" Sora said running in the direction he heard the feet running off to. Donald and Goofy started after them as fast as they could without bumping into anything. They finally came to the end of the tunnel and looked round. Sora saw a short white rabbit wearing a red coat and gray shorts, holding a gold trumpet, hopping off.

"Hey you! Can you-"

I'm late, I'm late! No time to say 'Hello' 'Goodbye', I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" the rabbit exclaimed hopping into a group of very tall flowers. Sora, Goofy and Donald ran into the flowers after him.

"Oi, where'd he go?" Sora asked looking around. There were flowers everywhere but no rabbit to be seen.

"Who, my dear, are you looking for?" said a woman's voice. Sora turned around, but saw no one.

"Did you guys here that?"

"Gawrsh, I think the flower said it."

"Goofy that's nonsense," Donald said. "Flowers can't talk."

"But of course we can," replied the voice. He group looked around to see a red rose. "But it's not like there's anyone worth talking to."

"Or about, teehee," added a yellow daisy.

"And we sing too," proclaimed a patch of colorful pansies.

"Really?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, how would you like to hear _Tell it to the Tulips_?" one flower said.

"What, that old thing? They wouldn't want to hear that. What about _The Lovely Lily at the Valley_?" asked another. Suddenly all the flowers started yelling out song suggestions and arguing about which one they should sing.

"Hey, hey, hey. Quiet down!" Sora yelled, but the flowers still continued to argue.

"Grr, BE QUIET!" Donald yelled and the flowers all went silent.

"Listen ladies, we only need to know if any of you have seen a white rabbit running by."

"Oh! A white rabbit! I saw one, I saw one!"

"Oh, hush up! We all saw it. He went that way," The rose said pointing in the opposite direction Sora was facing.

"I heard he was going to a trial. You remember the weed girl, that came by earlier. They say she's done a terrible crime."

"Yes. Hmm, you know, your petals look an awful lot like the weed girls did," said a tulip looking at Sora's clothes.

"What? These aren't petals they're-"

"And such scrawny stems. They look like you could fall over any minute. Just what sort of flowers are you three?"

"We're not flowers!"

"Hmph, as I suspected. These three are nothing more than the common Mobile Vulgaris!" All the flowers gasped then went quiet.

"Uh, what's that?" Goofy asked.

"To put it bluntly, a weed! Just like the girl!"

"But we're not weeds!" Sora argued.

"Well you wouldn't expect them to admit it," said a tulip. "Shoo!" It said pushing the three away with her petals. The group fell into the group of pansies and got pushed away again.

"We don't want weeds in our bed!" Suddenly all the flowers began pushing them around until they finally got shoved out of the flower patch entirely.

"That was a waste of time," Sora said. "We'll never find that rabbit now."

"Actually Sora, he's over there!" Goofy said looking through a patch of grass. Sora and Donald looked through and saw him hopping along a red road.

"Let's follow him," Donald said. Sora nodded and the three chased after the rabbit. After a few minutes of listening to the rabbit whine about being late, they finally reached the end of the road.

"Hmm, looks like a get-together," Goofy said. "What's the occasion?"

"Actually Goofy, I think this is the trial the flowers were talking about," Sora suggested.

The area they were in now had walls that looked like a cardboard box that had been painted sky blue with clouds. On the other side of the room from where Sora, Donald Goofy stood, was a tall desk, and right next to it was a stairway leading to a little platform. The rabbit ran up the stairs and blew his horn loudly.

"Court is now in session," the little rabbit proclaimed. "Alice, do you understand the charges placed against you?"

"Of course not," said a girl. She had medium-length blonde hair with a black ribbon in it, and her eyes were blue. She wore a long blue dress with white apron in the front. She had white stockings and also black dress shoes. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Alice turned to speak to the woman in front of her.

She was a large woman with black hair that was pulled into a tight bun, settled upon her head and a gold crown. She wore a red and black dress that had a large collar and she wore white stockings and red shoes.

"I don't know whether or not you're a true queen but I've never seen anyone so selfish and mean!"

The queen slammed her fist on the table. "Silence! I will hear no more of this. I find the defendant, Alice, guilty as charged! You are guilty of attempted theft of my heart!" Sora suddenly knew Alice didn't do it. He took a step forward when Donald grabbed his leg.

"What's wrong? We need to help her; it had to have been a Heartless."

"But Sora, it's against the rules," Goofy said.

"We're not aloud to meddle in the affairs of this world."

"Off with her head!" Yelled the queen. A group of giant playing cards with heads, arms and feet ran up to Alice and grabbed her arms. Sora ran up to them.

"Let her go!" he yelled. The queen threw a disgusted look at Sora.

"Who are you, scum? You dare to interfere with the proceedings of my court?" she yelled.

"Sorry," he said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "But we know who the real culprit is."

"Hogwash!" she yelled. "Have you any evidence?"

"Well, I, uh, I'm working on that…" The queen gave the cards holding Alice a nod and "Hmph," and they locked her in a cage with red drapes around it.

"Grr, very well. I shall humor your pathetic claim and let you gather evidence. If you don't prove she is guilty then it's off with all your heads! Until then, this court is now adjourned!"

Sora walked over to Alice and said, "Don't worry, we'll find out who the real culprit is."

"If you need help, the Cheshire Cat does reside in yonder wood. Seek him and ask for where this evidence might be," Alice told Sora. A card soldier walked up to Sora and pushed him away.

"Visiting hours are over. Get lost."

----------------------------------------

"Dang, Donald why can't we just tell them the heartless did it, eh?"

"Because, each world is defined by its particular boundaries, within some realities of truth are born. Two truths cannot coexist. When foreign bodies are introduced, chaos and conflict are spawned. And that's why."

"Say what?"

Hnn, you speak the truth," came a voice. "I pose that the untruth of this truth upon truths holds truer." Sora, Donald and Goofy looked up to see a large pink and purple striped cat. "The Cheshire Cat knows all yet finds no contradiction nor chaos."

"Wait did you say? The Cheshire Cat? Listen we need a favor, this girl, Alice-" The Cheshire Cat threw a pink box down at Sora before he could finish. "What's this?"

"In that box lies the truth you seek, or the truth lies not. To trust or not to trust, I trust you'll decide," The cat said as his stripes disappeared one by one until he vanished completely.

"That was weird." Sora looked down at the box and lifted the top off. Out of the box popped a Heartless with long fingers and a metal helmet. The Heartless ran off into the courtroom as Sora, Donald and Goofy chased after it.

"What in the world is that thing!" exclaimed the queen. The Heartless jumped up ready to attack the queen when Sora came up and slashed it in two.

"There was your evidence. Are you satisfied now?" Sora asked. Goofy ran over to the cage and pulled away the curtain to find no one in the cage.

"Hey Sora, Alice is gone!"

"WHAT?" yelled the queen. She slammed her fists on her desk and glared at Sora. "The culprit is still at large! Offer a bounty for her immediate capture! Should you fail it's off with all your heads!" The card soldiers scrambled around nervously, while Sora, Donald and Goofy ran off.

----------------------------------------

"Wow, she is just completely nutzo!" Sora said as they walked around the flower garden, making sure to avoid any flowers.

"You're telling me," agreed Donald. They reached the hole and began walking forward threw it blindly. They reached the room with the doorknob and jumped onto the checkered floor. "Why's this place so dark?"

"Here, here," came a familiar voice.

"Is that the Cheshire Cat?" Goofy asked.

"Indeed. Have you heard that where there is the brightest of lights, there are the darkest of shadows?" he asked snapping his fingers. The lights flickered on to reveal a giant Heartless standing next to the Cheshire Cat. The Heartless was thin. It had five black and red faces stacked on top of each other apparently as one head. Erupting from two armor-like shoulder guards were long papery arms, holding onto two maraca-shaped items that were lit on fire. It had long thin armor covered legs that were split in the middle and met at the feet, creating the illusion that there were fours legs. It looked to be about as tall as Sora was normal sized, which didn't help them considering that they about a centimeter tall!

"You've prepared your hearts for the worst, haven't you? If not, too bad."

"You…" Donald began but was cut short when the Heartless attacked thrusting down its burning weapons. Fire caught onto Donald and Goofy's pants and they hopped around trying to put it out. _'Oh no, what am I supposed to do now?'_ Sora thought. The Cheshire Cat looked at Sora and snapped, sending a cool sensation over him.

"What was that?" Sora suddenly felt words come into his head. _'Ice? No, Blizzard…Blizzard.'_ Sora looked to Donald and Goofy and pointed the Keyblade at them. "Here goes nothin'! _Blizzard!_" he yelled. A chilling blast flew from the end of the Keyblade and hit Donald and Goofy, setting out the fire.

"Sora did you just use magic?" Donald asked.

"I…I think so. Hmph, now we can beat this Heartless." Sora, Donald and Goofy got into a fighting stance. "_Blizzard!_" Sora yelled as another cold wind came and surrounded the Heartless. The Heartless stood still for a moment, then whipped at the wind with its flaming weapons and attacked the group. Sora dodged its attack and stumbled. "Why didn't it work?"

"Sora!" Donald said. "If you're going to use magic then you need to concentrate completely on that spell. Imagine the enemy freezing. You can do it, just put your heart into it!" Sora looked at him.

'_All right, got to concentrate, imagine the enemy frozen.'_ Sora painted a mental picture of the Heartless freezing. Then he was ready.

"_BLIZZARD!_" He yelled. A strong whirlpool of wind and snow came and spun the Heartless, putting out its flaming weapons and sending it smashing into the ground.

"Yay, Sora. You did it!" Goofy said. The group heard a yawn from behind them.

"Please, what's a doorknob got to do to get some sleep around here?" The doorknob said, opening his mouth for another yawn. Sora looked at it. From inside his mouth he could see a little sparkle. He took a step forward and looked in its mouth. The shape of a keyhole was in it. Suddenly the Keyblade started to shake vigorously and pulled itself up to where it pointed at the doorknob. A light beam shot from its end and hit the inside of the doorknob's throat.

_Click._

"What was that? It sounded like something was being locked," said Donald.

"Ahyuk, Donald I found a Gummi block. 'Cept this ones different than the others."

"Let me see Goofy." Donald took the Gummi block from Goofy and examined it. "Hmm, you're right Goofy."

"Anyway, let's get out of this place. It's starting to give me the heebie-jeebies," said Sora.

"Right."

"Hmph, that damned cat helped them too much. I knew we should have disposed of him the minute we saw him!" yelled a woman as she watched the hologram projecting from the table.

"Silence," came a man's voice. "We need not trouble ourselves with such things. Our main import is of the boy's progress. He found the keyhole much quicker than we intentionally planned."

"Do not fret," Maleficent said entering the room. "The other keyholes will not be quite so easy to find. And besides…" she said pushing the blonde haired girl, Alice, into the room. "The pieces we seek have begun to fall into place."

* * *

**(A/N)**

Alrighty then! First princess down 6 to go, why Alice is one of them is beyond me. Yes I did make Wonderland a little larger than in the game, it wasn't crazy enough(from a movie point of view) so I added the flowers. I wanted the Mad Hatter but I just got so lazy.

Oh and I might not be updating in a bit cause I'm going on a trip soon so don't come checking every two days for an update(who does that?).

Review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: I own nothing Waaa!

I am SOOOO sorry about the long wait! School started up again and all that, but that's no excuse! I'm getting back into my writing mojo and will be updating as frequntly as I can now! And if you have any questions or anything you'll have to Email me thanks to the new rule "no answering reviews and such" something like they don't want me to communicate with you! (stupid!)And there's like this one thing I've been meaning to explain but can't now, so sorry, it'll remain unknown.

Ooh, _Corpse Bride _in theaters everywhere Sep. 23rd, for those who loved _Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Chistmas_!

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

"Wow! That was so cool!" Sora exclaimed as he jumped into the Gummi Ship, followed by Donald and Goofy. "I can't believe it, I did magic!"

Donald sat down in his chair and started fiddling with the switches. "Yeah, yeah, calm down," he said grumpily. The last 86 or so failed attempts at finding a way out of that rabbit hole took quite some time and lowered Donald's spirits. "Can you shut up, I'm trying to concentrate." Donald pushed a button and the Gummi Ship started to float above the ground.

"Don't be such a party pooper, Donald. I mean, magic! Can you believe-"

"SHUT UP!" Donald shouted as he plunged a lever forward and they shot towards the blue sky, which soon darkened, turning into the dark starry space.

"So," Sora began, "What new world are we going to next?" he asked, his excitement growing and growing, feeling as if he were about to burst.

"Nowhere, we're going back to Traverse Town."

"What?"

"We need to ask Cid about that strange Gummi block, and see if Leon knows anything about that thing where the Keyblade glowed."

"Ahyuk, and what about that Edward fella' that does that 'olchemy' stuff," Goofy asked. Ignoring Goofy's mispronunciation of 'alchemy', the excitement inside Sora suddenly vanished. Donald and Goofy were right. They needed to know about the two strange events, and he had already promised Ed that they would travel together back on Destiny Islands. Still his eagerness to see another new world, maybe learn a new magic spell, covered those thoughts.

"Oh, please Donald! Please! Just _one_ other world, nowhere else, that's it."

"No," he said bluntly. Sora plopped on the ground and clutched at Donald's webbed feet.

"Please, please, please, please, please!" Donald looked down at Sora and saw him giving a puppy-eyed look. "I'll do anything you want! Please!" Sora begged gripping Donald's leg tighter.

Donald cursed under his breath. "Fine. Just stop making that stupid face!"

"Yay!" Sora pranced around the Gummi Ship and finally sat down when Donald barked saying he couldn't focus.

The ride was actually shorter than the first. It took only about 10 to 15 minutes this time. Soon enough they came across a world that was green pretty much all around, covered in trees. "All right, maybe Kairi or Riku will be there," Sora said hopefully

"Or maybe the King," added Goofy.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Donald. "The King would never be in a dump like this, Goofy."

"Oh, well I just thought-"

"What do you know? We're going back to Traverse Town now." Donald began to turn the Gummi Ship around when Sora gripped Donald's feathery hands to stop him. "What?"

"We can't skip this world. Riku or Kairi might be down there."

"I don't care. All I know is that the King would not be in a place like this. We're leaving." He pushed the steering wheel to turn again, but this time Sora pushed him out of the chair. He grabbed the wheel and pushed a lever that Donald had pushed earlier to speed up. "No!" Donald yelled. But it was too late. Sora had already pushed the lever to maximum power and they sped off, plunging towards the green world.

----------------------------------------

"AHH!" Sora yelled falling. He was going down, headfirst. He closed his eyes, ready for impact any second, when BAM! Sora found himself on his backside, grunting in pain. He opened his eyes to find that he was on the top of some wooden platform. He moved a leg to get up when he felt the wood under his bottom creak loudly, and a piece by his elbow broke off and fell. He heard the wood clang a bit and heard somewhat of a hissing sound below him.

"HELP!" someone yelled. This startled Sora and he jumped up off his rear, and onto his feet. Right when his shoes hit the wood, it creaked and he fell through.

He landed on all fours – scraping his knee – and looked up to see the person who screamed. It was a girl, whose leg had fallen through the wood beneath her feet and was stuck.

Sora ran up to her. "Hold on, I'll get you out." He was about to grab her when she snapped.

"You idiot!" she said aggressively in a whisper, causing Sora to jump, "Look behind you!" Sora turned around and saw only a bunch of old blankets, dressers and a bit more old broken and dusty items. "Behind and _up_!" she snapped again, still in a whisper. Sora turned around and looked up in the rafters to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring at him. Sora stood still as the eyes gleamed at him. He stretched out his fingers slowly, ready to grab the Keyblade. He looked in the corner of his eye to see the girl shifting slowly, trying to relieve her leg from the hole. She tugged a little harder on her leg, but it was no use. She gripped one of the wood pieces around her leg and tried to break it off, without making too much noise.

Sora redirected his attention to the creature in the rafters. It was up in the shadows, but he could see it breathing slowly and a set of claws were on the bottom of the rafter. Sora took a step back – slowly – not taking any notice to the fact that his heel was right next to the girl's fingers. She was pulling hard on the wood and it made small cracking sounds as it was almost broken completely off. Sora pressed his heel down hard, getting ready to pounce up at the creature, when the girl made one swift tug on the wood. It broke off instantly, but she had pulled so hard that her hands – with the wood – flew up. The woods sharp end scratched Sora's ankle, and he couldn't hold in a fairly loud, "Ow!"

The second the word escaped his mouth, the creature leapt from the rafters. A golden, spotted leopard sprang at Sora, knocking him to the ground. Sora immediately gripped the Keyblade and hit the feline in the head. It rolled over and jumped up, pouncing at Sora faster than he could turn his head. He raised the Keyblade up to his face, ready for impact at any second.

BAM!

A loud blast came from his left side. He looked over and saw the girl with a pair of gun that looked like long sticks with handles. The leopard was standing still, hissing at her from a corner. Pointing her gun at it again, she put her thumb up to the side of the handle and pressed a button, that Sora guessed was the trigger.

Nothing happened.

The girl stood with her weapon still pointed and a fierce look on her face. She pushed the button again, but still nothing happened, and Sora could see a sort of flustered appearance creep onto her face. The leopard growled hungrily and bared its fangs, taking a few steps toward her. Sora jumped up – questioning himself on why it had taken him so long – and swung the Keyblade at the leopard. The leopard was fast but not fast enough. It jumped roughly to the side, but still had a deep graze across its left leg, where blood began to dribble down. The leopard took no notice to the cut and sprung quickly for Sora with its sharp claws.

"AAAAHHH!" someone yelled. A strange man, with a bloodstained spear in his hand, had knocked the leopard across the room. Sora looked to the bloody spear then to the leopard, which now had a large cut across its chest. The leopard backed away then ran towards one of the windows, breaking the smudged glass to pieces. Sora stared after it with his heart racing fast.

"Tarzan!" Whirling around, Sora saw the girl run up to the man.

She has long light blonde hair that reached down to her hips. She was fairly tall and her eyes were light blue. Tied on top of her head was a bandana that was a faint red color. She had two silver studs in her left ear and had brown sandals and gloves. She wore a jumpsuit that was a very light purple. The top part of the jumpsuit was unzipped and the arms tied around her waist like a jacket might be, revealing a black tube top. A khaki colored strap was tied around each of her thighs.

She slid her guns into both of the khaki holding straps. The guns were like two long red bars, with a black handle on them. They reminded Sora of the old wooden Tonfa weapons that a martial arts person would use as a guard.

The man had a much stranger look to him. He was crouched over like a caveman might have been, but he wasn't a hunchback. His arms hung down by his side and his fingers curled a strange way. He had messy brown hair and blue eyes. The strangest thing about him was that he wasn't wearing any clothes except for brown loincloth that was wrapped around his waist.

"Winry… hurt?" he asked with a couple of grunts.

Shaking her head she replied, "No I'm fine, thanks."

"Wait a second," Sora said suddenly remembering that Ed had told him one of his friends was named Winry. "Your name's Winry?"

"Uh yeah," she answered somewhat confounded, "Winry Rockbell. Why?"

"It's just that…" he began, thinking back on the night Ed and he were talking.

"_Well, there's one girl named Winry, kind of sensitive. Now, she's a real machine freak! She loves technology. When we were little Al and I would always hang out with her."_

'_Oh, I don't want to get her all worried about Ed. He said she was sensitive, so she might freak out on me,'_ Sora thought. "It's just that I thought you were someone else, uh, your names are really similar is all." He scratched the back of his head and gave a little giggle, trying to make it sound like an honest mistake.

"Right," she said sarcastically. "Well, uh who are you?"

"I'm Sora." He walked up to her and they shook hands. "Who's that guy?" he asked gesturing to the shirtless man.

"Oh, this is Tarzan."

"What's with the, uh, pants?" he asked searching for a word that he wouldn't think would be offending.

Winry gave a giggle, "Don't worry, I'll explain that on the way to camp."

"Camp?"

----------------------------------------

"Erg, DAMN IT ALL!" Donald yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Gawrsh you don't have to get so mad, Donald. Er, where's Sora?" Goofy said looking around. They were in some kind of jungle right next to a lake that had strange trees growing alongside it and large hippos bobbing up and down in the water.

"Ah, who needs the little brat? I say if he's gone, good riddance! He was only slowing us down from finding the King."

"But Donald, the King said we need the Key-"

"Shut up!"

Goofy looked at the ground in disappointment, then his mood suddenly got better. "Hey Donald,"

"I told you to shut up!"

"But Donald, look at this." Goofy held out his hand for Donald to see.

"What's that, Goofy?"

----------------------------------------

"He was raised by monkeys?" Sora asked astounded as Winry finished talking about why Tarzan had such a strange appearance.

"Hehe, not monkeys, gorillas," Winry repeated.

"Wow," Sora said, looking down at ape-man who was walking with his knuckles on the ground. In his world he never really heard of anything like that, except for maybe in one of those kid books that he never read anymore where the person acted like a total goof.

"Anyway, you don't exactly look like you're from around here. Just arrive?" she asked. Sora stared at her. He wasn't sure of what to tell her. Goofy had said something about some non-interference law during one of their trips on the Gummi ship. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone about other worlds and such.

Sora tried thinking of something fast that might trick her. "Well, I'm… uh…"

"Are you from… like another planet?" she asked. Sora stared at her in disbelief. There was nothing about him that looked too other-worldly. OK, so it kind of did but that isn't something you ask someone right off the bat. Then he remembered that she and Edward were from the same world, but of course he had no idea if she was the Winry he had mentioned.

"Why would you ask that?" Sora tried to give a short laugh to sound like it was a silly question.

Winry suddenly began to look a little nervous as she started. "It's… it's just that… I'm not really from… what I mean is, I think I'm not even from this planet!"

"How did you get here?" Sora suddenly knew that she must be from another world.

Winry looked somewhat confused by his reaction, but told him anyway. "Well, I was visiting my friends Ed and Al because Edward's Automail had broken," she started, as Sora thought back to the night in Traverse Town when he told Sora about how he had lost his real arm and leg in some kind of accident. "They had to go do something that they wouldn't tell me anything about. So, I was in my room and decided to go look for them, I didn't find them anywhere in the building and went outside. Then I could have sworn I heard them screaming about something in the old warehouse nearby. But, when I opened the door…" she trailed off, trying to remember the night. "I don't know. It's like I was there one second and the next, I was lying on the ground in this jungle."

Sora looked at her, recognizing the feeling of being tossed out of your home and finding yourself in unfamiliar territory. "Well, looks like we have something in common."

Winry stared at him. "You mean you're from a different planet too!"

"Actually, you don't really call them planets, it's more well known as worlds, and yeah, I am." She stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh my gosh, did you just get here? I mean you haven't been wandering around all by yourself have you? It's been pretty dangerous around here lately and-"

"Hey, hey, calm down," he said. _'Now I know what Ed meant when he said she was a bit sensitive. Or at least a bit over reactive,'_ he thought. "I'm actually just visiting this world." She stared at him, confused at his words, but he just laughed.

He looked at her again and saw someone behind her. It was Kairi! Sora stood frozen, staring at her. She looked at him, gave a smile, and then walked behind a tree where Sora could no longer see her.Winry looked at the spot where Sora was staring at, and saw nothing.

"Are you OK, Sora?" she asked waving a hand in front of his face. He saw the hand waving quickly, breaking his eye contact with the tree.

"Huh? Oh, I, uh, just wanted to ask you something. Have you seen a couple of people around here named Riku and Kairi? You see they're my friends and-"

"E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah," Tarzan grunted.

"Huh?"

"E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah," he repeated.

"Uh, I don't know what that means. See, me no understando," Sora said making a bunch of "no" signs.

"Don't pay too much attention to that. He said the same thing to me when I asked Jane and Clayton about my friends. They didn't know anything about it either."

"So you're looking for your two friends, Ed and Al?" Winry nodded.

"And you're looking for Riku and Kairi, I think." Sora nodded.

"Right so if we ever bump into one of the other's friend, we'll be sure to tell them."

"Right," Winry replied, sticking out her pinky. Sora wrapped his pinky around Winry's and they made a little shake.

"By the way, who are Clayton and Jane," Sora asked.

"Oh, those are the people I'm staying with at the camp. I'll introduce you, it's right up here," she said pointing to an opening between the trees. The path led to an open area that had tents and lots of luggage sitting around. "In here," she gestured to one of the larger tents. She pushed the flap away and Sora walked in after her.

There was a woman examining an old slide show projector in the tent, and she turned around when she heard them enter. She had long brown hair that reached the middle of her back, and blue-green eyes. She had light skin and she was fairly tall. She was wearing a white tank top and mahogany skirt, and was walking barefoot.

"Jane this is Sora, Sora this is Jane. She's the one I've been staying with." Winry said. Sora gave a grin and a wave.

"Hello," he said

"Hello," Jane replied. She had a British accent. "Are you here to study the gorillas?"

Sora opened his mouth to reply when someone interrupted. "Highly doubtful." Sora turned around to see a large man with brown – and somewhat gray – hair, with a little mustache, dressed in a yellow poacher's uniform and a rifle in his hand.

Two others walked in after him. Donald and Goofy. Sora, Donald and Goofy's faces all lit up.

"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora yelled.

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed. Donald and Sora ran up to each other and grabbed hands, stared at each other, and remembered their earlier fight. They released each other's hands and turned back to back, folding their arms across their chests.

"A circus full of clowns," the man said, "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

"Mr. Clayton, were studying them not hunting them. This is research," Jane said. Clayton seemed not to notice her comment and left the tent. Jane sighed. "Well, the more the merrier. What are your names?"

"I'm Goofy and that's Donald."

"I'm Jane, this is Tarzan, and the one who just left is Clayton. Don't mind him too much. Oh, and you two don't know Winry over there." Winry gave a wave and Goofy waved back. "Well, what brings you three here? Are you together?"

"No," said Sora

"But," Donald added.

"I'm staying!" they said together. They gave each other a somewhat surprised look. Sora had wanted to keep going to other worlds and find his friends as soon as possible, and Donald said the King would have never been in a place like this.

"Ahyuk, look what we found, Sora." Goofy held out his hand. In the middle of his palm was a small colorful chunk that looked like the item they found in the last world they visited. "It's a Gummi block, and it's different from the ones on our ship. Just like the last one we found."

"Oh, so that means,"

"The King might be here," Donald interrupted. "So that means we'll have to stick together… for _now_," he added.

"Right, I'll let you tag along. For_ now_," Sora replied. The two stood back to back in silence.

"Oh, Winry could you help find those slides I asked about earlier?" Jane asked.

"Sure. Hey Sora, you want to help?"

"Find slides?"

"Yes you see we are having a bit of trouble communicating with Tarzan," Jane explained, "So we were going to show him some slides on our projector, but I'm afraid they've gotten scattered around when we were setting up camp. I asked Winry if she could help find them while I fix the projector up a bit."

"Oh, OK, I'll help."

"Us too," said Goofy. "Come on Donald!" Donald waddled out of the tent after them still crossing his arms.

They all walked outside and picked a place in all the luggage and began looking. Sora and Winry were close by when Sora noticed something.

"Winry, that leopard thing didn't hurt you earlier, did it?" he asked pointing to two scars along her arm and shoulder that he hadn't seen earlier. She looked to where he was pointing and sighed.

"No, I got those the day I came here."

"What, you mean when you came to this world?" Sora asked grabbing Goofy and Donald's attention.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy ran up to him.

"It's OK," he whispered, "She knows Ed."

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. So did that leopard get you or what?" he asked looking to change the subject.

"No, it wasn't any animal that I've ever seen. It was some weird black thing. It looked like a big bug with yellow eyeballs."

This caught the threes attention right away.

It had to be a Heartless!

* * *

**(A/N)**

Sorry it was so short (short for me anyway), but I guess that one was just to say I'm back!

Review, or I'll tell Edward that you called him the "s" word!


	9. Chapter 9

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: Me? Own Kingdom Hearts or FullMetal Alchemist? You flatter me so... nope.

Again I must apologize for my absence. There's no excuse and you'd better like this because I spent all Saturday and all Sunday typin' this! And for those who aren't informed, KH2 _should_ be released on March 2006.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

"No, it wasn't any animal that I've ever seen. It was some weird black thing. It looked like a big bug with yellow eyeballs."

This caught the threes attention right away.

It had to be a Heartless!

"Winry, how many were there? Was it just the black bug one or were there different kinds?" Sora asked seriously.

Winry was a bit surprised at his mood swing but answered his question. "No, it was just the black bug, but there were quite a few of them. And they just came out of nowhere. I mean I heard a few leaves moving around and when I looked behind me nothing was there. I turned back around and one just sprang up at me!

"I got this scar from one of them. I found my way to this camp and Jane took care of me while I was in really bad shape. I didn't tell her anything about being from another world, though; I wasn't sure how she'd take that. I mean she'd probably think I was…"

Winry went on, but the three weren't listening. They were all staring at each other with the same look in their eyes. If those little Heartless had shown up, then bigger and stronger Heartless would be showing up any day and destroy this world, just as they had to Destiny Islands.

"Sora," Winry said tapping him on the shoulder, bringing his mind back to the present. "Are you feeling OK? You look a little pale."

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Uh, Winry where did those Heart… uh, creatures attack you?" Goofy asked.

"Hard to say. I was really tired and wasn't exactly making a map, but I'm sure it was in the direction of the tree house." They all turned in the direction in which she pointed, glancing at the tall wooden house. "But anyway, have you guys found any slides? I've got a couple right here!" Holding up the slides, the others realized she wished to change the dreary subject.

"I've got one," noted Sora.

"Me too," added Donald.

Goofy climbed onto the top of one of a nearby luggage pile and slipped his hands around the top. "Hey, I've got another. That's two!"

"So six. I'm pretty sure that's all of them. Come one." Following Winry into the tent, Sora declared, 'Got 'em."

"Wonderful. The projector's all fixed up and ready to go. Tarzan, we're ready." Tarzan looked up from a book he held upside down. Jane grabbed the slides and slipped one in. Tarzan's gaze flew to the screen, staring at a large castle.

"Hey," Sora muttered.

Goofy looked at him questioningly. "What is it Sora?"

Sora looked at the castle blankly. A strange feeling rose in him. It was a familiar feeling, as if he had been to the castle before, numerous times. Also another feeling, like…

"Hey Jane, let's switch over to the next one, OK?" he suggested, an uneasiness in his voice. Jane looked questionably at him, but didn't bug for an explanation. Instead she slipped in the next five slides of a man offering flowers to a woman, a gorilla, a ship, a pretty woman in a flowing gown and two people fencing.

Jane slipped out the last slide, looking to Tarzan. "Well Tarzan?"

"Where are my friends? Riku and Kairi?" Tarzan shook his head as if he didn't know what Sora was talking about. "But earlier you--"

"That leaves just one place," Clayton interrupted, entering the tent. "Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now, but have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

"Now Mr. Clayton, I honestly don't think Tarzan would--"

"Then take us there. Take us to the gorillas. Go–ril–las."

Tarzan looked at Sora. After moments, he nodded his head. "Are you sure, Tarzan?" Jane asked worryingly.

"Tarzan… see Kerchak."

"Kerchak?"

"He must be the leader. Perfect! I'll go along as an escort." Loading his gun with a new set of bullets, Clayton gave a strangely malicious smile. "After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

"I'm coming too," Winry piped up.

"Then let's head out shall we? Tarzan." Tarzan marched out on his knuckles and didn't look behind. Clayton, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Winry all followed him out, leaving Jane alone to wonder if it was a good choice. Sora thought back to that first slide on the projector. He didn't think it too strange that it seemed familiar. Everyone has a _deja vu_ feeling every once in a while. But he felt another feeling when he saw it. He felt his chest begin to burn with a confusing anger.

'_Oh it's nothing!_ _Probably just looked like a castle from a story I hated when I was a kid!' _he thought trying to assure himself. Or at least he hoped so.

Tarzan led them all to the area Donald and Goofy had landed after falling out of the Gummi Ship, with a large pool of water filled with hippos. Tarzan jumped onto a nearby hippo's back and quickly jumped onto a little piece of land next to it. He looked back at them and he jumped to another hippo, and another 'till he got to the end of the little canopy and climbed up a vine. Sora and the others started doing the same, having a much harder time jumping from hippo to hippo without almost falling in the water. Donald made it first (he swam) and climbed up the vine sluggishly. Goofy got there next, then Winry. Sora jumped onto the spot of land and waited for Winry to get a good start climbing. He shook his shoes, relieving them of some water, when he could have sworn he heard a little _'yap'_ close by. Looking around, he didn't see much, except for an odd patch off vines covering a little hole. He bent down and tried to look inside.

"Sora? You coming up or what?" Winry asked from the top of the vine.

Sora leapt up and began to climb. "Sorry, just looking around." Sora advanced up the vine looking down at the odd clump of vines. He wanted to know what that was but knew he had more important things to do.

Reaching the top, Sora saw Tarzan conversing with a massive gorilla that startled Sora.

"_Please Kerchak! Listen to me. I know the nesting grounds are secret, but I trust them. You see I want to help them because… because… well, they need us,"_ Tarzan said to him in the grunting gorilla language. The giant gorilla, Kerchak, stood staring darkly at Tarzan. "Did you get that?" Goofy asked Donald and Winry. They both shrugged.

_"Kerchak!"_ Tarzan went on. Kerchak looked upward, ignoring Tarzan's pleas. _"Kerchak…"_ Kerchak turned in the long tree and climbed away, followed by a concerned-looking female gorilla nearby. Tarzan sighed.

"Duh, hey Donald…"

"What Goofy?"

"The big one seemed sorta' distracted, didn't 'e?"

"He did seem to be more interested in something else. What was he looking at?"

"The way he went, I'd say that's over near the tree house," Winry stated. "We can get there by climbing that vine."

"Right!" Sora ran to the vine she suggested and climbed up quickly, followed by the others, Tarzan taking a different route swiftly came to meet Sora up on higher land. They came upon a long bridge that connected to the other side of a long canyon, where the tree house was. The group raced across the bridge and up the steps.

Clayton stood pointing his gun into the doorway of the tree house, targeting a young gorilla playing with a globe. He set his finger on the trigger and…

"WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Donald yelled in Clayton's ear. His finger pulled the trigger, but the shot narrowly missed the playing gorilla because of his startled jump. The gorilla fled from the bottom area and climbed up onto a second canopy level, joining the monstrously large, Kerchak.

"What the heck are you doing!" Winry exclaimed, wishing she had a wrench nearby to bash him with. Tarzan jumped into the tree house's entrance. _"Wait, Kerchak! Please!"_ he pleaded in "gorilla". A squall fired in Kerchak's eyes and he turned and walked away. _"Terk…"_ he said to the other gorilla. The little gorilla – Terk – gave a sad look and walked after him. Tarzan looked back at Clayton, as Sora and the others surrounded him with angry glares.

"You don't understand, all of you. You see a… uh… a snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life." Clayton looked around trying to sound as innocent as possible, but no one believed him. He rose to his feet and they all began walking back to camp, not saying one word along the way.

----------------------------------------

"How could you do such a thing?" Jane yelled.

"Now Miss Porter, as I told you all I was not aiming for the gorilla."

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!"

"All because of one mishap? Come now… huh?" Everyone in the tent glared at Clayton. He took the hint and marched out of the tent. He tried calming himself by marching over to a table with a pot of tea and took a sip. "What am I doing with these imbeciles?" he started, chugging down the tea and gripping the cup firmly in his hand. "Blasted gorillas!" His voice rising. "I'll hunt down every last one of them! I'll track them down somehow! I'll stake my life on it!" The cup in his hand shattered to pieces, leaving small cuts on his palm that made him even more furious. He pulled out his pipe and lifted it to his mouth, when he heard a rustling in the leaves behind him. He spun around and pulled out his gun.

**_PPPPOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!_**

"What was that?" Jane asked as a gun was fired from outside. Sora, Donald and Goofy ran outside.

"You stay here!" Sora said to Winry and Jane. They skidded to a halt when they saw, "Heartless!" A group of blue and yellow monkey-looking creatures with dark masks around glowing yellow eyes surrounded a helpless, frightened gorilla just a few feet away. Sora ran forward and pulled the Keyblade from his blue belt, charging at the Heartless. The yellow monkey threw a banana peel at Sora's feet, sending him face-flat on the ground. Goofy charged and blocked the blue monkey Heartless's claws with his shield. He then spun around like a tornado and the edge of his shield sent colliding Heartless flying, some disappeared and others got right back up again.

"Good going, Goofy! _Fire!_" Donald yelled a foot or two away. A ball of fire shot from his wand and destroyed some of the stumbling Heartless. Sora jumped to his feet and slashed with the Keyblade, missing and having three sharp claws dig deep into his right cheek. He fell over again and clasped a hand to his bloody cheek. Another Heartless jumped at him, claws extended.

"Look out!" A flaring bullet struck the Heartless in its chest. Its body went limp and disappeared into a mass of dark mist. "Sora you can't hit it like that! It looks like its real good at close combat!" Winry said next to Donald as he kept shooting off magic spells.

"She's right Sora!" Donald said, sending another Heartless into death. "Use your magic!"

"Right, _Freeze_!" Sora yelled, sending a strong freezing wind out at the Heartless. They all tried holding their ground but most were sent flying against trees or rocks. Others froze almost completely in their place.

"How 'bout we warm them up, Goofy?" Donald said looking to the shivering Heartless.

"Sure thing!"

Donald sent a blast of fire at Goofy, who spun his shield in his hands. The fireball ricocheted off the shield and hit the monkey Heartless'. Winry fired her bullets at the last remaining few, all of them disappearing in a burst of smoke.

Sora and Goofy walked over to the gorilla. "Come on, we're not gonna hurt you," Goofy said. The gorilla still backed away in fear.

"What's that in its hand?" Winry pointed to a yellow and orange block gripped tightly in the gorilla's hand.

"Is that a Gummi Block, Goofy?"

"Sure is, Sora." Goofy reached out and tried to get it from the gorilla but it backed away again.

"Come on boys, you've got to be more gentle with him," Winry declared walking toward it. She got down on her knees and extended a hand towards it. The gorilla looked interested as soon as she did and walked – slowly – to her. It reached out its hand with the Gummi Block. Winry took it, startling the gorilla and tossed five yellow circles out of her hand. The gorilla ran after them and started munching on – what looked like – little pieces of a banana.

"Oh yeah, be gentle," Sora repeated sarcastically.

"Hey, do you want this piece of play dough or not?"

"Sorry." She tossed the little square to him.

"What is that anyway? It doesn't exactly look edible or anything. And what was that weird thing you did with the fire and the ice!"

"I'll explain later," Sora said.

Tarzan crouched down next to the other gorilla, talking to it in grunts and mumbles.

"Jane… trouble," he said. "Jane… danger. Near tree house."

"Jane's in trouble? Let's go Sora!" Winry immediately ran after Tarzan to the lake, as well as Sora, Donald and Goofy.

----------------------------------------

"Jane are you here?" Winry shouted in a mass of trees and vines.

"Winry?" came Jane's voice. They all ran around a large tree and saw Jane huddled up with the gorilla, Terk.

"Jane…. Fine?" Tarzan asked.

"Yes, oh. Something's strange is happening."

"What happened?" Sora asked as Tarzan conversed with Terk.

"I'm not quite sure. I was in the tent then Clayton came and… and… that's really all I can remember."

"Clayton?"

"Gorillas trapped… Terk ran."

"Sora you have to help the Gorillas, all of you. I'll stay with this one."

"All right."

----------------------------------------

Sora and the others ran through the jungle trying to find Clayton. But there was no sign of him, not an animal was in sight. Only Heartless kept appearing. And the direction they were headed in, the flow of the shadow monsters kept getting stronger. That meant one of the big boss Heartless must be in that direction. They all charged past the camp sight, attacking only the Heartless that blocked their path.

They finally came upon a cliff where they saw Clayton pointing a gun at Kerchak.

"No!" Sora yelled. Clayton turned around casually as if Sora had only said for him to stop trying to take the last cookie in the cookie jar, instead of don't kill anyone. "Clayton, what's wrong with you?"

"Not Clayton! _E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah_. Not Clayton!" Tarzan proclaimed. Clayton raised his gun and shot at Sora.

"Sora!" Goofy jumped in front of him and blocked the bullet. Clayton put his finger on the trigger again but Winry shot first. Her bullet knocked the gun out of his hand and grazed his shoulder. Blood seeped out of the light wound, but Clayton acted as if nothing had happened. He reached down and picked up his gun, taking a few steps back.

WAM!

The cliff wall behind him blew to pieces as if some invisible force had smashed it. Clayton suddenly rose up into the air.

"What!" Sora yelled.

"How's he doing that, Donald?"

"I don't know, Goofy."

"Look! It's like he's sitting on some invisible horse or something," Winry stated. Indeed, it looked like Clayton was sitting on top of something none of them could see. Winry took out one of her Tonfa guns and shot a foot below where Clayton floated. The bullet froze in midair and a dark liquid dripped from the bullet.

"It must be some kind of invisible Heartless!" said Goofy. Tarzan sprinted forward, but was pushed back immediately by nothing they could see. As Tarzan flew back, they heard a strange noise that sounded something like a gargling squeal – or close enough. Sora jumped up and slashed at the invisible Heartless. His arm was forced back. That settled it; there was definitely a Heartless there.

Sora, Goofy and Tarzan ran forward with their weapons and shield. Winry and Donald fled to higher parts of the cliff and attacked from afar. Winry shot her bullets in the same general area as her first bullet. The transparent creature seemed to be angered by this greatly, lashing out viciously at the three near it. Donald followed her lead and fired his magic spells around the same effective area. Clayton fired random bullets at Donald and Winry but they ducked quickly. So far for them it seemed to be going OK for them.

Sora, Goofy and Tarzan on the other hand, weren't looking so good. The shots Winry and Donald made caused the creature to go into an uproar. It lashed at them, not giving them time to attack and they were getting tossed as if they were plush dolls!

_"Cure!"_ Donald yelled, trying to keep them from getting too cut up. Donald had to cast healing spells so much because the three down below were getting wounded every minute. Winry was the one making the main shots. The Heartless was so distracted by the people around it, it didn't even notice her, making it even more confused at whom one earth was shooting it. But Clayton wasn't as preoccupied. He looked up and saw her. Lifting the gun and targeting, he had a clear shot.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Everyone looked up at Winry. The bullet from Clayton's gun pierced her in her lungs. She fell to the ground as blood sprayed from her chest.

"WINRY!" Sora yelled. He stared at her laying body as her chest moved up and down rapidly as if she were suffocating. Tears formed in his eyes. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want this. He never expected anyone to die. Then he did the only thing he could do.

"You… why you!" He lunged at the invisible Heartless, cutting through its invisible skin. Donald ran over to Winry and used his cure spells. Sora repeatedly struck at the Heartless, missing several times. Tarzan threw his spear a foot or so in front of Clayton and it froze in midair. The creature gave a screeching cry and Clayton bobbed madly up and down.

Green, scaly skin formed in front of their eyes. A giant chameleon Heartless swung its head round and round, the spear stuck right in its forehead. The reptilian Heartless's eyes began to glow and meteors the size of small boulders, glowing with the same bright light, came flaring from its eyes, smashing into Sora and the others. Sora was sent flying across the cliff bass and into a wall.

Sora looked up and saw Donald lying bruised and cut on the ground. Donald wasn't moving and he was the only one who could use any cure spells. Goofy kept covering Tarzan with his shield, and Tarzan, as wounded as he was, jumped from behind and hit the Heartless with his spear that he had taken back. Sora set his head down.

_'We'll never win. The Heartless is too strong. We are all hurting like heck and that Heartless looks as good as new…'_ Sora's head rose. How could that be? They had made plenty of great shots. It should at least have one scratch on it. _'Just a minute ago when it was visible, there were plenty of cuts and burns on it. Now it looks fine…'_

Tarzan made a deep graze across the Heartless's front leg. A dark liquid oozed out a little then ran down its leg and the cut was _gone_! Sora rose up some more and watched Tarzan. Tarzan sliced open his skin across the Heartless's nose. More liquid oozed out and it was fine again. But that's not what caught Sora's attention. A little crystal sat in the middle of a horn on the chameleon's nose. He watched more as Tarzan cut it. The wounds always healed_ after_ the little crystal gave off a small light.

"TARZAN! GOOFY!" Sora cried, jumping to his feet and running toward the Heartless. "Aim for that crystal in its horn!"

Goofy gave Tarzan a little boost and he landed on the Heartless's neck behind Clayton. Aiming his gun, Clayton fired for Tarzan. Tarzan ducked low and smacked Clayton in the gut, sending him into unconsciousness. Tarzan ran to the Heartless's head and thrust his spear into the crystal. Tugging the spear out, the crystal flew out as well, leaving a gash in the monster's horn. Only this time it didn't heal.

"Yes!" Sora yelled. He ran forward, completely forgetting the pain in his body and thrust the Keyblade deep into the Heartless's forehead. Tugging the Keyblade free, the Heartless fell to the ground. It and Clayton disappeared and a little heart flew off into the sky. Sora walked over to the crystal lying on the ground, feeling triumphant.

"Winry? Donald?" came Goofy's sad voice. Sora turned around. Goofy and Tarzan were kneeling next to Donald and Winry's motionless bodies.

"No…" came his words in a whisper. _'Winry… Donald…'_ Goofy lifted Donald up into a sitting position, Donald's feathered hand was wrapped around his other arm. He was alive, but blood poured out of his wounds and he took deep, quick breaths. Winry on the other hand, wasn't moving at all. Tarzan sat next to her, trying to shake her awake. But her body lay motionless. _'No… Winry… Donald. You can't go. You weren't supposed to get hurt.'_ Tears streaked down his face. His fist clenched around the Keyblade. _'Why'd this have to happen?'_ Lifting the Keyblade, his grip tightening. _'No. You…'_

"You can't die!" Sora threw the Keyblade strait down. The metal tip collided and smashed the healing crystal to pieces. A bright light flew from the Keyblade's end and surrounded Sora and the others. A Warmth fell over them and their wounds instantly healed. The glowing wind faded and they were all surprised. Their bruises, cuts, and other wounds were completely gone.

"Errr…" They all looked over. A blue hat on top of a white feathery head rose off the ground. Donald looked around, his body back in perfect shape.

"Donald!" They all yelled. Sora ran over to them and before he knew what he was and doing threw his hands around the short duck.

"What do you think your doing?" he said, trying to push Sora off with his tired arms. "Come on, your getting me all wet. Stop cryin'!"

"Sorry," he said jumping off and whipping away his tears. He looked to his left and saw Tarzan's ear up next to Winry's heart. Sora sniffed, "Is she OK?"

"Winry… heart… good." Tarzan picked her up in his arms. Sora got up next to her. A small scar lingered where the bullet had hit her and the scar along her shoulder was hardly visible. Aside from that she looked fine.

"Winry," he said softly. "You feelin' all right?" For a moment she said nothing. Then her eyes opened slightly. "Winry!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his joy. She winced.

"Do you have to be so loud?"

"Oh, sorry," he said softening to a whisper.

"Heh, gave you a real scare there didn't I?"

"No kidding."

"Yeah, well don't expect to get rid of me that easily."

"Never again," he said smiling. "Ahhh!" A giant hand grabbed the back of Sora's jacket and tossed him onto a far ledge surrounded by waterfalls. Goofy and Donald landed next to him. He jumped up and saw Kerchak standing where he just was. Kerchak turned his back and walked away, followed by the other gorillas. Jane came from the bamboo thicket, avoiding walking into the gorillas' pathway.

"Oh dear, is Winry all right?" she exclaimed. He gave a short nod.

"Jane come." With Winry in hand, Tarzan walked over to the ledge and climbed up. He reached his arm out to help Jane up. He then walked off into a dark cave holding Winry.

"Where's he goin'?" Goofy asked.

"I'm not quite sure, actually. I've never seen this part of the jungle before. Oh, let's catch up to him before we lose him." They all trotted into the cave after Tarzan.

The cave was quite large. On the other side of the cave was a glowing blue door, covered in flowers and vines, blue butterflies hovering around it.

"Tarzan home," Tarzan said, standing in front of it with Winry resting in his arms. "_E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah_."

"This is your home?" Sora asked. "But that means…"

A sound echoed throughout the cave. "What's that?" Goofy asked.

"The waterfalls," said Jane. "They must be echoing all the way here."

"_E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah_. Friends here. See friends."

"Oh I've got it now. _'E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah'_ must mean heart. Friends in our Hearts."

"_E-oo-ooh-ooh-hah_. Heart."

"Oh, so that's what it means," Sora said disappointedly. He had hopped it had something to do with Riku and Kairi.

"Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends."

Sora turned to Donald. "Hey Donald, I'm sorry about what I said."

"I'm sorry too."

Goofy came and put his hands on both of their shoulders. "Yeah, all for one, huh?"

"Right!" Donald and Sora said together.

Suddenly, the end of the Keyblade glowed, redirecting itself towards the glowing door and a bright beam shot from its end and into a keyhole shape that was hidden behind some vines. They all heard a little click and Goofy noticed something on the ground. He walked up to the door, picking something off of the ground.

"Hey look you guys! It's a Gummi. But it sure ain't the King's." Donald felt a little rub against his leg. He turned and saw the gorilla, Terk, looking at him fondly.

Jane laughed. "It looks like someone has a new admirer."

"No way! Daisy would kill me!" Donald yelled backing away from Terk. Everyone laughed as Terk began chasing Donald as he ran from her.

----------------------------------------

"What could have drawn that Heartless there?" came a voice out of the darkness. The hologram of Sora, Donald and Goofy in the cave played out across the table, a group of people watching.

"The hunter," Maleficent said. "His lust for power lured them there, but it seems the bait was much too tasty for his own good."

"Yeah! He got chomped instead! Hahahahahaha!"

"Shut up!" yelled a woman. "But what do you expect of a weak-hearted fool like himself? He stood no chance against the Heartless."

"The boy is becoming a problem! He has already found another of the Keyholes!"

"Calm yourself, Jafar. True he has found it slightly quicker then we intentionally planned but he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"The princesses?" Jafar questioned.

"Yes."

----------------------------------------

"But Winry, are you sure your feeling up to it?" Sora asked. It had been only one day since defeating the chameleon Heartless and they needed to find the Gummi ship. Winry jumped up from her resting place and said she'd help but Sora didn't think she should.

"'Course I am. Now where do we want to go?" she asked marching out of the tent.

"Well, we think the Gummi ship fell somewhere near the tree house, right Donald?"

"Right Goofy. But I don't think you should be doin' anything but resting, Winry. Just because we said you could come along doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."

"Whatever, Donald. If I'm coming I wanna earn my keep. I'm not gonna let you guys do all the work while I'm snoozing."

"Gawrsh, Winry he's right though. You should be--"

"You know, Goofy, Donald, there was actually something I wanted to check out. It wouldn't be doing too much work. So how about it Winry? Want to come?" Sora asked.

"Sure, anything's better then staying here and oversleeping."

"Doh, all right. Meet us here later so we can go to the Gummi Ship if we find it." Donald and Goofy went off in search of to search the jungle for the ship.

"So, what 'grand adventure' are we embarking on today, Sora?" Sora started walking over to the hippo pond.

"Follow me." They hopped across the hippo backs until they reached the vine they had taken to the nesting grounds. "I heard something over here earlier. I wanted to check it out." Sora pulled the odd twist of vines and looked inside the dark hole. The two could faintly see three little pairs of golden-brown and blue eyes staring at them. Winry reached in and pulled out a little white puppy with little black spots all over it.

"A puppy!" Winry exclaimed. The little Dalmatian pup tried getting away from Winry, but after a few strokes on its head it was content. The other two puppies in the hole cautiously walked out. Sora grabbed them and began tickling their bellies. "What would these little guys be doing in a jungle?"

"Oh I have an idea," Sora said, thinking back to what Aerith said in Traverse Town.

_"Well, in town there are two Dalmatians who's puppies have all disappeared. Leon has been very worried about them so I was wondering if you might--"_

_"Sure thing Aerith."_

"Come on," Sora said. "There might be some others around.

----------------------------------------

"What took you so… hey! What's with the mutts?" Donald said. Winry and Sora each had four puppies cradled in their arms, four more trailing behind them. The four puppies following them instantly ran over to Goofy and began licking him and munching on his shoes.

"I think they might be those Dalmatian puppies from Traverse Town. You know, the ones Leon was so worried about," Sora said with a wink, thinking how silly Leon would look playing with the pups.

"So, what'd you bring them here for? We're not taking them on the ship."

"But Donald, we can't just leave them here!"

"Yeah, that would be animal cruelty! You should know a little something about that," Winry added.

"Come on Donald, look at the li'l fellas." Donald turned to Goofy who held the pups in his arms, all _five_ of the canines giving him the sad eyes. He turned back to Sora and Winry to avoid their sad gazes, only to find them doing the same thing.

"Grrrrrr… all right! All right! Just stop making those stupid faces!"

Everyone cheered around him.

"So did you find the Gummi Ship?" Sora asked, scratching one of the pups' bellies.

"Yeah, it was near the tree house. Surprised we didn't see it earlier."

Sora picked up four of the pups. "Let's head off then." The others picked up a group of four pups and they set off for the tree house.

----------------------------------------

"Oh. My. God!" Winry shrieked. "It's… it's beautiful!" She touched every edge of the Gummi Ship, shouting about the work and craftsmanship and detail.

"Hey, stop that!" came a little squeaky voice. She looked left and right but saw no one. "Down here!" they shouted. Winry looked at the foot of the door and saw two little chipmunks, one with a small black nose, and the other with a red large nose. "Could you not put your dirty fingers all over the place! We've got to keep this place clean you know!"

"Sorry about that. Those are Chip and Dale," Donald said.

"Don't call us 'those'!" The black nosed chipmunk, Chip, exclaimed.

"Those keep the place clean and work on the mechanics," Donald said ignoring Chip's order.

"'Mechanics'? Like how to make it work? The nuts and bolts of this beauty!" Winry's eyes flared with excitement.

_'Ed wasn't kidding when he said she was a machine freak!'_ Sora thought. _'Uh-oh.' _Edward. He hadn't thought about Ed for a bit. They had to go back to Traverse Town immediately to ask Leon about those weird keyholes. He hadn't thought about what would happen when Ed and Winry met up again. Should he tell her Ed was there, or just let them come face to face?

"Come on, Sora. Don't wanna get left behind!" Goofy said.

"Oh, sorry." Sora ran into the engine room of the ship. Winry was jumping around. She was as excited as a porcupine in a balloon factory. _'Nah, I think I'll let her enjoy the ride for a while.'_ Sora followed the others up the ladder and into the cockpit. Winry was even more excited in there. It looked like she wanted to touch every button there, but she jumped back as if every one was a self-explode.

"Don't touch anything," Donald said seeing her nervous excitement. "Just sit down and hold tight." Winry sat in the chair next to Goofy and held her chair firmly. "Here we go." Donald pushed the acceleration lever to medium speed and they zoomed off into the sky.

----------------------------------------

Winry stared out the window, 20 or so minutes after they took off. They had just passed the pink hearts world they had visited before. Jiminy Cricket dropped in and talked about the worlds and Heartless. He said that the world where they'd met Alice was called 'Wonderland' and the world where they had met Tarzan and Jane was called 'Deep Jungle'. He also named some of the Heartless.

"Hey Jiminy," Winry asked, "Why are the worlds so small? They seem more like big towns than an entire planet."

Jiminy's expression grew grim. "I'm sorry to say this but since the Heartless came and the worlds were connected, pieces of the worlds have been disappearing."

"Disappearing?"

"Yes. The darkness is destroying them. The worlds start off as a large planet, but are broken down by the darkness and are now the small areas you see here."

"That's terrible. Do you think my world's been destroyed?"

"It might have been. Most people don't end up on other worlds like you did unless their homes are destroyed."

"Oh…" she said sadly. She walked over to the box the puppies were in – Chip and Dale had insisted on putting them there so they wouldn't break anything – and stroked one's head as it napped.

Goofy looked out the window. "Hey, we're almost to Traverse Town."

"Really?" Sora asked. Goofy nodded. "Um, Winry."

"Yeah, Sora?"

"I've kinda got something to tell you. It's about your friend, Edward Elric."

She stared at him, her eyes filled with a mix of joy and fear. "You

know Ed!"

* * *

**Jiminy's Journals - **Jiminy Cricket here! I'm going to start showing you my journals of the Heartless and their names, because Caita(DreamstoneX) is getting tired of just putting their appearences and would like to call them by name.

Shadow - Little bug-like Heartless that are extremely tenacious. They sneak up behind their opponent as a shadow on the ground, then strike with their claws. First appearence: Chapter Four

Darkside - An enourmous Heartless with a mighty fist, usually appears with Shadows. First appearence: Chapter Four

Soldier - Resembles a Shadow that wears armor. They have brisk movements and rush into their opponent. Though they appear in numbers they lack teamwork. First appearence: Chapter Six (just before Gaurd Armour)

Gaurd Armor - A Heartless that is a large, empty suit of armor. It falls apart when receiving damage but each part attacks individually. First appearence: Chapter Six

Trickmaster - A Heartless weilding flaming maracas. Its herky-jerky attacks and juggling make it seem flustered. First appearence: Chapter Seven

Powerwild - Looks like a blue monkey. It attacks in combinations and is best at close-range combat. First appearence: Chapter Nine

Bouncywild - Looks like a femanine yellow monkey. They scamper around, making them a tough target and attack from afar with a slingshot. First appearence: Chapter Nine

Stealth Sneak - Large chameleon-like Heartless that can manipulate light to appear invisible. First appearence: Chapter Nine

* * *

**(A/N)**

Well that's all for now, hope you liked it, Review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: ...

Hey guys I was just sitting here on my holiday break, watching my New Naruto DVDs(whoo! 142 episodes! Plus season specials) and thought, "Hmm, I haven't updated in a while." So here it is, I hopeyou like it!

Have a blessed Christmas!

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Sora, Goofy and Donald huffed and puffed as they struggled to keep up with Winry. Even though she was only speed walking she was still way ahead of them.

"Winry…. Wait up!" Goofy choked, carrying the heavy box full of puppies in his arms.

"Yeah, you don't even know where you're going!" Sora exclaimed.

"Well then, you ought to tell me, NOW!" Winry snapped.

"Why should we?" Donald asked.

"Why?" she said through gritted teeth. "You mean like why shouldn't I pound you all right here into mincemeat for not telling me about Ed! Let's just call it payment, shall we!" Winry spat. Pulling out her Tonfa guns, the three boys raised their hands in the air as if under arrest, with no doubt that she would shoot right now.

"The big door on the right!" they told her. Winry pushed it open as easily as if it was the door to a dollhouse. Running after her, the three kept a fair distance.

"The brown door on the left," Sora told her as they entered the first district. Winry spun on her feet, hardly pausing for him to say anything. Sora, Donald and Goofy finally were able to keep a steady pace behind her.

Slamming the entrance door to the hotel, Winry looked at all the different doors with disdain.

"Which one is it?" Winry shouted, not noticing that the three hadn't even come past the entrance door yet. "WHICH ONE!" she yelled just as Sora had entered.

"I-I'm not sure!"

Winry threw out a loud, angry groan and began marching to the first door. Throwing it open, nothing was inside but some cleaning supplies. The next door had a number '2' on it. She threw it open and found a green room with no one inside. The next door was crimson red with a little gold line design on it. Throwing it open she saw an entirely red room and a brunette haired man inside.

"Where's Ed?" she demanded angrily with the gunsin her hand, not even caring if he had even heard the name before.

"A little young to be playing with guns now, aren't we?" Leon said calmly with a bored expression, his back leaned against the red wall. This made Winry even more furious.

"I asked you a question! Now give me an answer!"

"Keep your voice down," said Leon with just the slightest hint of annoyance.

"Winry, slow down!" Winry looked over as Goofy, Donald and Sora slumped through the door and collapsed on the floor, the little puppies barking loudly.

Leon tugged the guns free from Winry's grasp. "You really should be more careful with these."

"Give those back!" Winry reached up, but Leon held her far enough away to where she couldn't reach them.

"Leon, we've got the tea," announced a woman in pink, following a blond boy, carrying a tray, into the Red room.

Ed gasped, "Winry?"

She turned around. "Edward!" A smile lingered on her lips for a moment, but it was immediately thwarted away by an angry frown. She marched up to Ed and gestured to the box of parking puppies, "You know where these pups go right?"

Ed was somewhat surprised by the question but answered truthfully, "Yes…"

"Good." Winry grabbed the tea tray from his had and placed it on the bed. Taking the box of puppies from Goofy, Winry pushed it into Ed's arms and him out the door.

The room was silent for a moment. "She seems…. outgoing," said Aerith. The others in the room let out a little sigh.

----------------------------------------

The town was empty and quiet. Neither Winry nor Edward knew what to say as they walked down the stairs and onto the Dalmatian's house. Some of the pups gave little barks while the others began to grow tired and snuggled next to each other.

"So," Ed began, searching for something to say. "Where'd you meet Sora?"

Winry was relieved that he broke the silence. "Uh, in a world called Deep Jungle. I woke up there when I first left Central. What about you?"

They rounded a corner and Winry pushed open two blue doors for Edward. The two walked into a room with two Dalmatian dogs sitting in a corner. The instant they walked in the door, the little pups barked joyfully. The dogs sat up and barked backed, running to them. Ed placed the box on the ground and let the little puppies climb out and greet their parents. The mother nuzzled the noses of her pups and the father licked them all with greeting.

Winry and Edward sat against a wall and watched all the dogs play together. "You never answered my question," said Winry.

"Oh, I met him on his world. It was called Destiny Islands, nice place." Edward relaxed a bit while thinking back to the peaceful island.

Winry thought of what to say in response. "What about Al? Is he here with you?"

Edward's face grew solemn. "No, he isn't. I'm… hoping that he'll be on one of the other worlds that we visit."

"But…. What if he isn't? Are you really so sure that he's going to be there?"

Edward paused. "Yeah… I'm positive."

"How?"

_"Hah! No problem, Ed. We'll find your friends, I promise!"_

Edward stood up. "'Cause, Sora promised. What more reason do I need?"

Winry smiled, thinking back to when she and Sora had promised to look out for each other's friends. "Yeah, that kid's always happy to help. Pretty dang curious too."

"Yep, you should've heard him when he was asking about my Automail. He wouldn't shut up. I pretty much had to explain what metal was to quite him down."

Winry giggled. "It must've been a pain in the butt for you to explain alchemy to him then."

Edward paused. "Actually now that you mention it, he didn't ask too much about alchemy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he just asked what it was and was it hard. I thought the questions would pile on after that but he didn't ask anything about how I can do it or… anything else or that matter."

"Hmm, weird, oh well." Winry stood up next to Edward. "Come on. I think these guys will be okay."

"Right, I also think you owe someone an apology," Edward added as they walked out the door.

----------------------------------------

"Mmm! This is great tea Aerith! Can I have s'more?" Sora asked sipping down another cup of Aerith's tea.

"Me too," Goofy added.

"Me phree!" Yuffie exclaimed while munching on one of the donuts she was sent to get.

"Of course, there's plenty. Oh, Leon don't you want to try some?" Aerith asked, pouring more tea into the three's cups.

"No thanks," he said looking slightly irked.

"All right," she said a little disappointed. "Come in," she said as a knock came to the door.

The door opened and Edward and Winry walked into the room. "Everybody," Edward began, "This is Winry. That's Leon, Aerith and Yuffie," he said pointing them out. Yuffie and Aerith gave a friendly wave. Leon tossed the Tonfa guns across the room, Winry barely catching them.

"Be more careful with those next time," he said, grabbing a donut from a box set next to Yuffie on the bed.

"Right, oh I'm sorry about earlier everybody."

Aerith smiled, "That's all right."

"Whu haffened eawier?" Yuffie asked with a large piece of donut in her mouth.

"Nothing special, don't talk with your mouth full, Yuffie. Oh yes, Edward, Winry, we're going to be moving out of the hotel and onto a vacant house in the third district."

"Is it bigger than here?" Edward questioned.

"No, but there will be less people around and no one will be bothering us for our gil- er munny."

"Oh, do you need help moving anything?"

"Just a couple of things, it's nice of you to ask."

Leon pushed himself off the wall and walked for the door. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, I want you three to follow me. We'll meet the others later."

The three hopped off the bed and followed him. "Where are we going, Leon?"

"For a walk."

----------------------------------------

"So you found the Keyhole."

"Yeah, two of them, the Keyblade locked them automatically," Sora explained.

"Good. All of the worlds amongst the stars have a Keyhole; this town must have one too. The Keyholes lead to the heart of the world. The Heartless enter through the Keyholes and do something to the worlds core."

"What happens if the Heartless get to them?"

"It disappears in the end."

"What!" Sora, Donald and Goofy yelled together.

Leon led them down to the alleyway and they stopped by the bars of the drainage hole. He pulled his Gun-blade from the strap on his back, warmed it up and fired at the bars. The bars went flying, Leon crouched slightly and walked through the hole. The three others followed him. The hole emerged into a large area with water all around and a gray and green stone footing.

"So you're saying that if we don't get to all the Keyholes in time they'll disappear!" Sora asked jogging after Leon through the knee-high water.

Leon stopped on a large gray-stoned area that was dry. "No, I'm saying that if _you_ don't get to the Keyholes in time they'll disappear."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you are the one with the Keyblade, no one else."

"Great, no pressure."

"Sora, I think you and your friends should go to as many other worlds as possible, seeing them would serve you well."

"Com'on Sora! You can do it!" Goofy said. "We might find your friends too!

"And the King," Donald added.

Sora nodded, "OK. Let's go!"

"Wait, Leon look at this." Goofy pulled the four Gummi blocks from his pocket and showed them to Leon. "These ones are different from the other Gummi blocks. We thought you might know what they're for."

Leon examined them for a moment. "I'm no expert on ships. Talk to Cid, he should know."

"Thanks Leon," Sora said as the three turned for the exit.

"Sora." Turning around just in time, Sora caught something in his hands.

"What's this?" A little green stone with a strange glow sat in his hand.

"That stone has some mysterious power. I've been carrying it around for a while. I want you to hold onto it."

"Well, how do you use it?"

Leon paused. "Go talk to Cid."

_'Great, he doesn't know either,' _Sora thought. He turned around and shot for the exit with Donald and Goofy.

----------------------------------------

"You've gotta be kiddin' me!" Cid yelled. "Y'all got the collective brain cell of a brick if ya ain't got no clue what a Navigation Gummi is. This here thingamajigger updates your coordinate database for locations in known interspace. Let's ya go where no man has gone before and all that jazz."

"Oh," said Sora, not really understanding what he was saying but knew it was good.

"In any case it wouldn't hurt to get it installed. Not like it'll crash your system or nothin'.

"So you'll put it in for us, Gramps?"

"I told ya before, need any help an' I'll lend ya some muscle. And I ain't never broken a promise before, bad business that is." Cid dug for something behind the counter. "Now, onto the matter o' yer payment. There's a delivery job I need you kids to run fer me."

"Payment!" Donald and Sora exclaimed.

"Hey, ever heard of 'equivalent exchange'?"

"Alright Gramps, calm down."

"Just shut yer yaps and deliver the goods." Cid handed them a brown hard-back book with a white space on the front and a golden latch.

"What's this?" Goofy asked.

"An exchange diary or something?" Sora suggested.

"Hell no! Just take it to the old house on the outskirts o' sector three. Leon also knows another way there but he's somewhere else right now, no point in hunting him down. Anyway I'm countin' on ya ter get it there."

----------------------------------------

"Gawrsh, the door won't open," Goofy said pushing on a large door with a clear flame symbol on it.

"Stand back," Sora said, "I'll handle this." He took the Keyblade out from his belt and pointed it at the door. Sora stood waiting for it to glow or something else. Pushing the door again, Goofy asked, "What'cha doing Sora?"

"Nothing. How are we gonna get in then?" Sora asked. Donald looked at the door.

"All right, all right you two, get out of the way." He lifted up his wand and a flaming ball shot from its end. The clear flame on the door began to lightly glow red and yellow.

Goofy pushed it and it creaked open reluctantly. "Hey, it's unlocked, let's go. Good job, Donald."

"Nothin' to it," he said smugly, walking after Goofy.

"Yeah, yeah, just watch where you point that magic lollypop stick," Sora mumbled after them. Through the door was a large, cave-like area with a giant pond. In the middle of the pond was a house that looked like a big hut wearing a giant witch hat. A trail of large stepping-stones drifted in the water leading to the house. The three walked to them and hopped onto each, trying not to fall off. Making it to the other side, they found the front door blocked with a jumble of wooden boards.

"Now how are we gonna get in?" Sora asked.

"Over here, we can crawl in the window," Goofy said. Crawling inside, they found a large, empty, gray room with a dais in the center.

"Looks like nobody's home."

"There's something weird about this place," said a gentle voice. Sora whirled around.

_'KAIRI?'_

"It sorta reminds you of the Secret place back home, doesn't it?" Kairi said.

"Huh? Kairi? How did… how are…"

BAM!

The wall behind Sora burst to pieces, dust and debris flew all over.

"Phew!" A tall man wearing a blue pointy hat and robes coughed and swished his hand around, trying to clear the smoke. He placed his hands on his knees for a moment, his long white beard brushing against the floor. "Nearly missed my landing, I did!" He brushed his robes free of some dust when he spotted Sora. "Oh, you arrived sooner than I expected." The man swiped the book away from Sora's grasp and examined it. Sora whirled back around.

_'Wha… where'd Kairi go!'_

"My, the binding's almost as good as new! Highwind's become very proficient with book restoration, hasn't he? Ah well, look at this place! It's filthy! I might as well clean up while I unpack." The man pulled a thin stick that looked like a wand from his pocket and pointed it at his bag. "You kids might want to watch where you step," he added to the three. He then flicked the wand and the bag opened up a on its own. Small objects, which looked like miniature versions of furniture and such flew, out of the bag and danced around the room, steadily growing larger and larger. Then the man pointed to certain objects as if directing them to areas of the room. Soon everything was settled and in place.

The man gave a little huff as if he had actually unpacked and placed everything around with his bare hands. "Come now, all of you sit down. I'll get you something to eat."

----------------------------------------

"My name is Merlin. As you can see I'm a magician of sorts," said the tall man after they had all settled in their seats and a plate of food sat in front of them. "Your king requested that I grant you some assistance."

"And do you know where the King is right now?" Donald asked.

"That, unfortunately, I do not. We parted some time ago.

"I do know the purpose of his travels though. There spreads, as we speak, a discord across all creation. Your king seeks a means, by which it may be quelled, that the end of days shan't envelope us in darkness. In any case he asked me to provide you all a lesson in the art of magic. Mind that you pay attention, Sora."

Sora looked up from his tea, "Eh?"

"You've done well yourself, learning to manipulate the Keyblade on instinct alone. But that reliance on instinct denies you the full capacity of the weapon. Conscious control of the blade's functions is essential to your cause. You mustn't forget your dream…"

----------------------------------------

Sora, Donald and Goofy wiped their plates clean and hopped up from their seats. "Thanks for the meal, Merlin we gotta get going."

They headed for the door when Merlin shouted: "Wait! Sora, what's that in your pocket?"

"This? It's just a weird stone a friend gave me." Merlin took it from him and examined it. "Wait there a moment." Merlin tapped his wand against a green, pumpkin-shaped carriage. Green and blue sparkles flew from the carriage. They swirled around like a mini tornado next to Merlin and a round woman in a light blue, hooded dress with gray hair appeared when the sparkles faded.

"What is it Merlin?" she asked.

"Look here," he said handing her the stone. Her eyes grew sad.

"Oh, poor thing. It's been turned into a summon gem."

"A summon gem?" Sora asked.

"Yes, when a world is consumed by darkness it vanishes. But it seems that this inhabitant had such a strong heart that it was transformed into a summon gem, instead of vanishing with his world. His heart lies within that gem."

"Can he regain himself?" Donald asked.

"Yes, but only his spirit. Even to do that you would need someone with a great deal of magic." The woman looked at Sora and saw the Keyblade hanging from the back of his belt. A smile lit on her face. "Young man what is your name? And your friends too?"

"I'm Sora. That's Donald and that's Goofy."

The woman handed the summon gem back to Sora. "Well, I am the Fairy Godmother. I think you should take care of this one. Here." The Fairy Godmother raised up her own magic wand and said the words, "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" Sparkles flew from her wand and swirled around the gem. It vanished into more sparkles and flew around the Keyblade. "There, now you have the power to summon him. But mind you, you need to practice your magic much further."

"I can help with that! And if you really want to learn a good deal of magic I suggest you go to this world." Merlin flicked his wand and a blue piece of paper appeared in Sora's hand.

"All right!" Sora said, slipping the paper into his pocket. Donald, Goofy and Sora walked for the newly made 'exit'.

"Now if you need any help, mind you come to us."

"Sure thing, Merlin."

"Oh, before you leave, if by any chance you come across the pages of this book along your travels, do return them to me. Once an entire world existed between these pages. It would be a crime to simply let it vanish into obscurity." The trio looked at the book a bit surprised that an entire world could be contained in a book.

----------------------------------------

"Cripes, the things we gotta look for just keep getting bigger and bigger," Sora whined as they walked into center of the third district.

"Not a problem, really," said Donald.

"Yeah, Gawrsh, we'll just have to tackle 'em one at a time," added Goofy.

"Sounds like a plan." They all looked at each other with a smile. "CRAP!" Out of nowhere a Soldier Heartless leapt onto Sora's shoulders and clasped its claws around Sora's neck. Before anyone had time to react a sword flung passed Sora's neck and sliced the Heartless in two. The Heartless's severed body vanished into smoke.

"Come on, Sora! Don't be spacin' out like that! It's freakin' pathetic. I thought I taught you better."

Sora whirled around to a familiar face. His blue-eyed gaze met an icy-blue one. "I've been looking all over for you, Sora."

"RIKU!" Sora ran towards his silver-haired friend and threw out his arms as if ready to hug. Riku prepared for Sora to squeeze the life out of his lungs, but instead the life was squeezed out of his cheeks. He slapped Sora's fingers away from his face.

"What the hell do you think your doing?"

"Oh, it's really you! Riku, I thought it might be some cruel dream!"

"Cruel, huh? Come on, I'm not that ugly!"

----------------------------------------

"So, Kairi's not with you?" sighed Sora.

"I thought she was with you," Riku replied.

"Just look on the bright side. We've finally made it to the outside world. We're free to do whatever the hell we want. No one can stop us. I'm sure we'll run into Kairi in no time as well. Don't worry just leave everything to me. With me around you won't--"

_Slash! _

Swinging passed Riku, the Keyblade slashed a Heartless in two. It fell down and disappeared into smoke.

"Leave it to who?" Sora asked smirking.

"Sora did you just…"

"I've gotten better, haven't I? I've been preparing for a rematch with you ever since I went searching for you and Kairi! All thanks to these guys!" Sora said motioning to Donald and Goofy.

"Our Sora here's the chosen one by the Keyblade!" said Goofy.

"Yeah, who would've thought it?" Donald added sarcastically.

"Really, now?" Riku didn't seem all too excited. "So this is the Keyblade I've been hearing so much about, huh?" Riku said with the Keyblade in his hands.

"Hey, give it back!" Sora whined, surprised he had gotten it out of his hands so quickly.

"Catch." Riku pulled his arm back as if to throw it, but when his arm extended out the Keyblade disappeared into smoke.

"Huh?" A puff of smoke appeared in front of Sora and the Keyblade appeared in his arms.

"Gawrsh, how'd he do that Donald?"

"Probably using one of those functions Sora hasn't mastered yet, that Merlin was talking about. I wonder though…"

Sora stared at the Keyblade for a moment.

"Hey Sora, did you get our note?" Sora turned around and saw Edward walking up to them.

"Note, what note?"

"The one telling you to come here when you were done talking to Cid."

"Oh, no, I was just talking with Riku. You remember Riku don't you Ed?"

Edward and Riku looked at each other, but didn't seem the least bit happy to see each other. "Yeah, I remember."

"Oh, you've gotta come with us Riku! We've got this really awesome rocket-thingy. You can ride with us if you want."

"Ain't your decision to make, Sora! You should be glad I let this shorty come along!"

"Donald! He didn't mean it, Ed!"

"No, no, I'm OK," Edward said with a clenched fist.

"Come one Donald, he's my friend. Right, Riku?" Sora turned to where Riku was standing, but he was gone. "Riku? Riku! Ed did you see where Riku went?"

"No."

"Crud. Gone and slipped off again. I thought I'd finally caught up to him too. Stupid Riku."

"Oi, Sora…" Donald began looking for a way to cheer him up.

"Oh, well, could've been worse! I mean at least he wasn't injured or nothin'! At his rate we might run into Kairi too. Er, something wrong, Donald?" Sora looked at Donald who had a dumbfound look on his face.

"I'm startin' to suspect you're bipolar, kid."

"Oi, Ed! I thought you were gonna bring them back! I didn't think I'd have to come too!" Yuffie yelled at them from a few feet away. "The new place is all set up so you can come now!"

----------------------------------------

"Oiyo! The great ninja Yuffie-chan makes her grand entrance!" Yuffie said playfully entering the new 'HQ' as Yuffie had called it. Leon, Aerith, Winry and Cid sat around a table staring at their laps with solemn faces.

"Kinda gloomy in here, don't ya think?" Sora said.

"Maleficent's in town," Leon said.

Sora heard Yuffie catch her breath and Edward gritted his teeth together while clenching his fist. "Who's Melice-somethin'?"

"Maleficent. She's a witch kid. O' course if ya change the first letter to a 'B' it'd fit even better," Cid said.

"It's 'cause of her," Yuffie said, "That our hometowns were shattered."

----------------------------------------

"You see. He doesn't care about you anymore. He has new friends," said a tall, dark figure. Riku stood staring at the window with Sora and all the others inside, letting the woman's words sink in.

----------------------------------------

"Bein' the kindly gent that I am, I took pity on 'em and took 'em with me on my way offworld," stated Cid. "Ended up here in this town. Drove us off the planet with a full-blown-Heartless-infestation, she did."

"Maleficent seems to demonstrate a certain interest in Ansem's Reports," said Aerith. "As the data recorded in it represents the most extensive documentation of the Heartless known to exist. I can only imagine

that she intends to use the knowledge for evil. Though we cannot yet determine her motive, the pages that have fallen to her should now be numerous."

"In that case all we gotta do is find the rest of the pages, right? We can stop her!" Sora exclaimed.

Cid's face lit up. "I like your thinking,' kid. Real positive an' all. Your Gummi ship's all ready to go so go get 'em tiger!"

----------------------------------------

"What are you doin' here? I said that blondy could come but nothing about you," Donald said to Winry.

"Hey, I'm coming no matter what you say, and I'm defiantly not letting Ed out of my sights. Besides it'll be good to have me around. Cid's been teaching me a little somethin' about these Gummi ships so I can help out around here!"

"Fine, fine, just don't take anything apart. At least the stars look good from here. Hey Sora, what're you doin'?"

Sora stared out the window of the Gummi ship. "Darn, Riku…" he mumbled, "Wonder if he's mad or somethin'… the heck's with him anyway?"

"He's still at it!"

Goofy jumped up next to his short duck friend. "Hey Donald!"

"Yes Goofy?"

"We're almost to another world!"

"Really which one? Hey Jiminy, come here!"

Jiminy hopped up onto Goofy's shoulder and peered out the glass. "Hmm, I've seen this one before. Just let me check my journal." Jiminy flipped through the pages of the miniature journal until he found the right profile. "Ahh, here it is. As I thought, this world is called….."

* * *

**(A/N)**

Oh deary me, what world could itbe! It's a mystery all right! Now watch as the great Detective Caita-kun solves this mystery! Don't worry, I watch way to much Detective Conan to screw this case up.

Review! And Merry Christmas!

* * *

**Bloopers**- These are a couple of mistakes I made while typing this chapter

Leon pushed himself off the wall and walked for the door. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, I want you three to follow me. We'll **meat **the others later."

-They're going to MEAT them later? I wonder what he had in mind...

"No, I was just talking to Riku. Oh, that's right, Riku this is Edward. Edward this is Riku."

-Hmm, either Riku and Ed have short-term memory loss (get it, "short") or Sora doesn't think highly of their brain capacity.


	11. Chapter 11

**Heart of an Alchemist**

**(A/N)**

Disclaimer: You know the drill. ME, DON'T and OWN(or was that stop, drop, and roll?).

OK people. I am SOOOOOOOOO sorry if you're not into this series for the next couple of chapters, but this series is an important part for the storyline so read and bear with me. Again I am sorry if you don't like this series!

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

Jiminy flipped through the pages of the miniature journal until he found the right profile. "Ahh, here it is. This world is called…"

Sora squinted his eyes and read the world's name in the tiny journal. "Hey!" he exclaimed. All eyes turned to him as he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "This is the place that Merlin told us to go to ta' learn magic."

"Magic?" Winry asked. "You mean you guys were doing magic back there against Clayton!"

Sora and Donald nodded as Winry's mouth dropped like an anvil. "What do you think we were doin'?"

"I don't really know! I just thought you were doing some weirdo alchemy or something! I mean it kind of looked like alchemy! But I guess you guys don't know any alchemy, do ya?"

"Not a thing," Goofy proclaimed almost as if he was proud.

"Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes—YES!" bellowed Sora, all eyes locking onto him a second time as he jumped up and down. "Alright! Let's zip over there so I can learn some new spells! Hahaha! I wanna learn lightning and… and fire! Yea, I wanna learn fire! That way I can cook the Heartless like crispy, unbuttered toast, haha! Oh this is gonna be so great!"

"Calm down, Sora. We need to get there first, besides you don't even know how you'd learn or who would teach you any magic," said Winry, Sora collapsing grumpily into a chair at her true statement.

Jiminy closed his little journal and turned to them. "Actually I know someone who knows a great deal of magic on this world. A great man he is."

"Who is it?" questioned Edward.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll run into him sooner or later. Besides, wouldn't it be more fun for you all if you didn't know what to expect?"

"Fun for you when we come back and tell you about all the crap we had to go through and there was a simple solution that you knew the answer to."

"Now Edward, I would never do that!" Jiminy said defensively, but not as if he meant it.

"That's fine, we'll just head down there and find something out for ourselves," Donald announced, powering up the jets. He already knew a great deal of spells and wasn't too interested in having a review or adding anything to his list right now.

"Yes!" whooped Sora, jumping up and pasting his nose against the window, staring at the new and mysterious world that lay ahead.

"Yeah, yeah now Jiminy, could you at least tell us the guys name?" Edward questioned.

"Oh, all right," said Jiminy as if the fun had been sucked out of life.

-----------------------

"Wonder if we could sneak in with the first years without being noticed," said a fourteen-year old boy with wild red hair. "We could just say that we are tall for our age."

"Yes well, their certainly going to fall for that when they see me, whom many know is most certainly not a first year," replied a boy of similar age with messy black hair and a pair of round glasses resting on his nose.

They trotted quickly across a wide-open field towards a gigantic castle.

"Just a thought."

"Say, did you hear that?" Turning around the boy stared through his glasses at a giant forest.

"No, and I'd like to stay away from that bloody forest if you don't mind."

"It sounded like something mechanical," the black-haired boy said, ignoring his comment.

"C'mon, you know that technology stuff doesn't work around here. Now hurry up, we're going to be late enough as it is." The red-haired boy began running towards the castle. The other boy took one last glance at the forest then turned and sped after his friend.

-----------------------

"Dang, where's this place?" Sora hopped out of the Gummi Ship and looked around to find they had landed in a dark – and somewhat eerie – forest. Goofy, Donald and Edward hopped out after him – Winry had decided to stay in the Gummi Ship. She wasn't interested in magic of any kind.

"Gawrsh, looks kinda creepy to me," Goofy commented. There was an eerie fog lingering a few feet away, making it impossible to see deeper into the forest and the tall trees blocked the moon's glow.

"Whoa, nice place." They turned and looked to where Edward had gestured.

"A hut?" Sora asked looking at a little hut with no lights shining through the windows.

"No you idiot," Donald sighed pathetically, "Past that."

Sora looked past the empty little hut and saw a huge dark castle, sitting proudly on a hill. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, Donald's feathered hand clapping his forehead. Edward walked out of the trees and into the large field towards the castle. "Where you goin', Ed?"

"To the castle. There's bound to be somebody there, like that Dumbly-somethin' guy Jiminy told us to talk to. Besides I'm not to interested in finding out what kind of creatures live in there."

Sora looked back at the fog and started to wonder what could be inside the dark…. creepy…. maybe monster-filled—

"OK, let's go guys!" Sora began marching after Edward at top speed, Donald and Goofy as well.

They walked up to the large doors of the castle. "Now what?" asked Sora. Edward shrugged. Grabbing hold of doorknob ring, Edward pulled the door open. It was much lighter than he thought it would be, as if pushing itself open. Donald pocked his beaked face and peered inside. There was a large room inside, an opening on the left side and a large door on the right. Strait across from the door was a giant stairway leading to two pathways on its right and left.

"No one's here," he stated, waddling into the castle. The others followed inside and looked around. Goofy looked to his right and left after entering. Two giant hourglasses were on either side. The two on his left had red and blue rubies inside, the ones on his left had green and yellow. Each of the hourglasses had a golden figure placed at the top. The red had a lion, blue had a raven, green had a snake and yellow had a badger.

"Where should we go?" Sora asked, gazing up at the tall ceiling.

"Let's try and find that guy or at least someone who knows him."

"Oi, do you here that?" Goofy asked, lifting up one of his floppy ears. The others quieted down and listened too.

Two voices muffled through the door argued. "It wouldn't have taken so long if you hadn't insisted that we look in the window."

"Calm down mate, just wanted to see if they had started dinner yet."

"Well, Dumbledore's not there yet so I guess we have some time." They heard a metallic clunk outside the door.

"Hide!" Edward ordered in a whisper. The group began to scatter around as the door slowly opened. Edward and Sora ran over to one small door. Opening it, a few shelves and some cleaning tools were inside. They stuffed themselves inside when Donald and Goofy came pushing inside too. "Get out, there's not enough room!"

"Be quiet! They're comin'!" Donald snapped. Closing the closet door, they heard footsteps echo through the hall, they all struggled to keep silent without falling out of the closet.

"We're lucky," said one of the people who had just entered. "They're running a little late tonight."

"Yeah but we're still going to get in trouble with that dumb bloke, Snape. And McGonagall's not to nice about these things either."

"Suppose you're right. Hey, who's there?"

Sora clapped a hand over his mouth a second too late. Edward's Automail foot had crunched his toes and a yelp escaped his lungs. "Come on out, we know you're there!" said the person.

"But if you're dangerous you can stay in there!" exclaimed his friend with a quiver. Sora pushed Edward off his foot, creating a domino effect and soon they were all on the ground outside the closet.

"Blimey! Sorry mates, Polyjuice Potions only work for human transformations," remarked the one who had suggested they stay in the closet. Standing up, the four looked up and saw two boys standing in front of them.

One boy had wild red hair, freckles and greenish eyes. The other boy had unbrushed, black hair that stood every-which-way, a pair of round glasses and green eyes. They were both fairly tall and wore similar clothes. A white collared shirt with a gray vest slipped over it. They both had long black coats with a little crest stitched on the left chest. The crest was shaped like a badge that was checkered red and yellow with a gold lion on it. They also wore ties that had red and yellow stripes. The black-haired boy had khaki pants, the red head had black pants and they both had black shoes. Edward also noticed a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt lingering on the black-haired boy's forehead.

"Polyjuice Potion?" Sora stood up and helped Donald to his feet, Goofy doing the same for Ed.

"Well, yeah. I mean how else could those two get that way. But blimey, even Hermoine kept her clothes when she got mixed up. Where are your pants?" the red head said to Donald.

"What year are you four in?" asked the black-haired boy.

"Bloody hell, where are your robes? You're dressed stranger than the Muggles at Halloween!"

Sora looked down at himself and the others. Compared to the two's uniform they did seem pretty crazy. "Uh yeah, well we were just doin' this for a little fun. But we got lost along the way when we were looking for someone."

"Who are you looking for?" asked the black-haired boy politely.

"A guy named Albus Dumbledore," said Edward. "Do you two know him or anyone who does?"

The two boys stared at him like he was an alien. "Did you blokes hit your heads? Of course we know 'im! Everyone in this school knows 'im! Heck, pretty much everyone in the wizarding worlds knows 'im!"

This statement baffled Sora. _'Wow! The guy who's gonna teach me magic is this famous! He must be really good!'_ Sora began creating an image of a young man, with muscles and sharp eyes and glowing magical fists. "Wow!" he muttered to himself.

"Well," began the black-haired boy, "I suppose we could take you to him. But I'm not too sure where he is. Normally he'd be in the Great Hall right about now, welcoming the first years, but he's not."

"Suppose he could be in his office," suggested the other boy. "We could go there, if he's not there we'd probably run into him on his way to the Great Hall. But it would be easier to just go to Sorting Ceremony and dinner and then talk to 'im."

"No," said Edward. "Take us to him now. Then we'll go to this sorting dinner if we don't find him."

"Suppose it'd be all right," said the black-haired boy. "Follow us." He turned and began walking up the giant staircase.

"We're going to be even later though," said the other boy, following after his friend. Edward and the others followed up the staircase.

"Wait a second," said Sora. "What're your names?"

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," said the red head. "You?"

"I'm Sora."

"Edward Elric."

"Goofy, and this here's Donald."

"What about you?" said Sora, referring to the boy with black hair.

Ron and the other boy stopped and turned to them with faces like they had just been asked if they were three years old. "You don't know 'im?" Sora and the others looked from one to the other next to them. Ron lifted the messy bangs from the boy's forehead, revealing a scar that was shaped like a lightning bolt. "This ring any bells!"

Again they looked back at him, clueless. "No, should we know him?"

Ron looked at his friend with huge eyes, his friend looked sort of embarrassed, but somewhat pleased at the same time. "I'm Harry Potter," he introduced finally.

"What's so special about that?" Donald asked.

Ron threw his hands into the air. "You've gotta be kiddin' me! Do not tell me you're serious! Please!"

"Gawrsh, Donald's almost powerless to be otherwise," said Goofy with a chuckle.

"So your telling me that you've never heard of Harry Potter! You know, The Boy Who Lived!" Again Ron was answered with mismatched eyebrows.

"Shove off it, Ron. C'mon, we've got to find Professor Dumbledore." Harry hopped up the last of the stairs with a joyful skip, then rushed to his right.

"I still say you fell out of that closet too hard," mumbled Ron.

"The hell was that about?" Donald whispered. All the others could do was shrug.

Ron and Harry led Edward and the others through a few hallways. On all the walls there were windows and giant portraits that moved! The figures in the paintings moved from one frame to the other, visiting with other painting characters and waving to the group as they walked by. "We're going to have to take the stairs to get there," said Harry, pushing open a door that led to an enormously tall room filled from top to bottom with staircases.

Goofy looked around at the portraits then noticed something. "Hey, there aren't any stairs that we can get to."

Sora looked around and found his statement was fact. "Yeah, he's right. How are we supposed to get up to them?"

Ron sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. "Sorry 'bout that. The staircases have never been the quickest of things." Sora begun to ask what he meant but his question was soon answered. A rumbling sound started from above them. "Finally!" Ron said. The lowest staircase rumbled and shook for a second, then moved it's lower end right out of place! It moved down and placed itself neatly at their feet. Harry and Ron began walking up the staircase. "C'mon, this way," he called back. Goofy, Donald and Edward looked curiously at the staircase then followed up. Sora forced his legs forward, staring at the stairs in awe. All the strange things he had seen at this weird school was amazing, yet Harry and Ron acted as though it were as normal as blinking. The excitement inside him bubbled madly, ready to burst out.

After walking up a few of the wondrous staircases Harry and Ron turned into on of the corridors they connected to. There was a twisted hall inside with quite a few doors and various suits of armor. Finally Harry stopped right next to a large statue of a gargoyle.

"Now what?" Ron asked.

"Not sure actually. The password changes every year. It could be anything."

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley." An old man appeared to their right through the dim lit corridor. There were wrinkles under his eyes, a pair of small glasses resting on his pointed nose, and had a long white beard flowing from his face. He wore a festive red, gold and orange patterned robe and a pointed hat. "I was just talking to some of the portraits down the hall. What could you two be doing down here? Oh, I see you've brought some guests with you. Here, come into my office so we can talk more comfortably and have a bit of Liquorish Snaps."

"Yes Professor Dumbledore," said Harry and Ron together. The old man, Dumbledore, walked in front of the gargoyle statue and said, "Blood Pops." The gargoyle's eyes glowed yellow for a moment and the gargoyle sprang to life, jumping to its left and revealing a staircase. Dumbledore marched forward followed by Ron and Harry. Donald then waddled after them, Goofy, Edward and Sora walked up as well.

When Sora's shoes had both come in contact with the staircase the gargoyle leapt back to its place in front of the entrance. Edward looked back at the statue with intrigue, but Sora barely noticed. His eyes were fixed upon the back of the old man. _'_This _is Dumbledore! I thought he was a powerful magician, not some old man who hands out Ginger Snaps! How could he be so great?'_

After climbing a few more stairs they came into a room filled with strange gadgets and vials filled with colored liquids sat on shelves. Dumbledore opened a wooden door and motioned them all forward. After gathering inside a large room filled with bookshelves and moving portraits, mirrors and desks, Dumbledore sat in a large comfy-looking chair at a long desk. "Make yourselves comfortable, help yourself to some Liquorish Snaps." Dumbledore motioned to a bowl full of dark shell-shaped candies on a nearby table. Goofy reached for it when a few pieces jumped up and bit into his finger! "Be careful! They're quite sharp. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, come here please." Harry and Ron walked up to him. The old man reached behind his desk and pulled an old, worn-out, pointed hat and handed it to them. "If you would be so kind, please take it to the Great Hall and tell Professor McGonagall that I send my apologies for being late tonight. I have some business to attend to but will be arriving soon. And don't take your time."

"Yes sir," they said and walked out of the room.

"Why, Albus! It's been so long! How are you doing lately? The students behaving well for the past few years?"

"Oh yes, Jiminy. The past few years have been quite exciting though," replied Dumbledore.

"Hey!" Sora put his chin up to Dumbledore's desk and glared at a small green cricket that hopped happily. "Jiminy? What are you doing here?"

"I hopped into your pocket when you were leaving, I just wanted to see my old friend is all."

"What about Winry?"

"Well you left so quickly I didn't get to tell her I was leaving. I suppose I should've left a note or something, not that she would be able to read it and a larger one would've taken to long."

"You know she's going to squish you when you get back to the ship," said Edward.

"That's expected, I probably deserve it. But now I suggest that we get down to business, Albus."

"Yes, Jiminy," replied Dumbledore. "Judging by what your King said I can infer that this young man is the Bearer of the Key and that is the Keyblade he spoke of?" he asked gesturing to Sora and the weapon hanging from his belt.

"Yes, this is Sora. The Keyblade chose him as its master."

"I see. And these two must be his loyal followers."

"Yes, this is Donald and that's Goofy."

"And this young man?"

"Edward Elric, I sorta got picked up along the way," Edward said.

"I see," said Dumbledore with a strange twinkle in his eye. "Your King also said some things about Ansem and the creatures called Heartless. I am disappointed to say that there have been noticeable sightings of the creatures, I believe. They have been somewhat active but nothing serious has happened, yet."

"Looks like another world we gotta lock up, eh Sora?" said Goofy.

Sora sighed. "Yeah." He was hoping that the Heartless had stayed away from this world so he could focus on learning magic.

"The sooner the better I say. I suppose you will need to stay around on this world for a while to find the door to the heart of this world."

"That's right," said Jiminy.

"Well if that's so…" Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled a wooden stick in the shape of a wand out. Raising the wand and pointing it towards Donald and Goofy, a green stream of light shot from its end. The light circled around Donald and Goofy. The others closed their eyes from the bright light, but when it died down two unfamiliar figures stood in Donald and Goofy's place.

"You'll need to blend in," finished Dumbledore. Donald and Goofy looked down at their new bodies.

Goofy was as tall as ever and still had big dark eyes. He had a long face and a little pointed nose. He had black hair that went halfway down his nape, except for two locks of hair that flowed down to his shoulder in place of his floppy ears. And generally he was quite handsome.

Donald was no taller than a child the age from eight to ten. He was a little chubby and had narrowed dark eyes. His hair was short and snow white; his skin was so pale it almost blended in with his hair. The two were both in similar uniforms as Ron and Harry were wearing.

"Gawrsh! What's this?" Goofy asked. A brown stick that was similar to Dumbledore's wand was sitting in between Donald and Goofy's fingers.

"And where are our weapons?" Donald asked.

"Those are your weapons. I'll explain in a moment, but first Sora, I'm going to need you to hold out the Keyblade for me."

Sora took the Keyblade out of his belt and put it out in front of his chest towards Dumbledore. "Like this?"

"Yes. Edward, please step up next to your friend." Edward did as he was asked. Dumbledore then pointed his wand at them and the same green light shot around them. When it went out Sora and Edward's clothes had changed to that of the robed uniforms, a wand had also replaced the Keyblade. Edward's Automail arm was still concealed under a glove, even thought the others had all lost their gloves. "Good now, I'll explain. The wands are your weapons, but you can't very be walking around with those around here. They are not permanently like that. If you concentrate on their original form they will return to it. Try."

Sora looked at the wand and tried to think of the Keyblade. "That was easy," said Donald. His wand had already returned to its normal figure. Goofy squinted his eyes and imagined his shield, concentrating on that image. Suddenly, the wand in his hand grew large and round, forming his familiar shield.

"Got it!" Goofy announced. Sora closed his eyes as Goofy had and created the image of the Keyblade. The small wooden grip of the wand grew cold and bulged up in his hand. When he opened his eyes, the Keyblade had returned.

"Yes!" he said.

"Edward, I see that you don't have a weapon with you so I will have to bring you your wand tomorrow as well as a few other things. Sora, Donald, Goofy I suggest that you turn those back into wands. I'll meet you out in the hallway after you do so." Dumbledore stood up from his chair and walked out of the room and down the staircase, Jiminy riding on his shoulder. Donald easily switched his wand's appearance; Goofy switched his shield to the wand after him. Sora took a moment longer to switch the Keyblade's form. After they were all changed they marched down the stairs.

Dumbledore was waiting in front of the magical gargoyle that hopped out of their way as they exited his office. "Shall we go then?" Dumbledore led them out of the hallway and down the moving staircases, soon enough they were standing in the large entrance room where they and met Harry and Ron. "It's time to go into the Great hall. By now they should be through plenty of the sorting unless Ron and Harry dilly-dallied along the way. Let's not waist anymore time." Dumbledore turned towards the large door on the right of the entrance.

"Wait!" Edward said. "We left one of our friends in our Gummi Ship. I think we should take her with us."

"Very well, go get her," Dumbledore said. Edward rushed out of the large door and returned a few minutes later with Winry behind him.

"Whoa!" she said as she looked at Donald and Goofy. "Ed told me you two were turned into humans, but I didn't really believe it! Lookin' good, Goofy."

"Thank you kindly," Goofy said in reply.

Winry's attention then turned to Donald. "Donald…. Uh, nice pants." Donald rolled his eyes and Sora giggled while Ed hid a smirk behind his glove. "Uh, are you Dumbledore?" she asked, turning to the old wizard.

"Yes and you are?"

"Winry Rockbell."

"Nice to meet you. I see you have a pair of weapons, please hold them out." Winry took the Tonfa guns out of the khaki straps on her thighs and held them out. "Stand still please." Dumbledore waved his wand and another green light shot from its tip, surrounding her, then revealing a similar outfit as the other boys except she was wearing a long gray skirt, white socks that rose above her knees and black dress shoes. And just like the others a wand took the place of her weapons.

Winry's mouth hung open as she gazed down at herself. She felt the clothes that were now on her and ran her fingers through her free hair to realize her headband was gone too. "H-How'd you do that!"

"Magic," Sora said simply, feeling somewhat reassured that the man Dumbledore could be the powerful man he was told he was.

"Now, we must get to the last of the Sorting Ceremony. I'll have Jiminy explain things to you later and I'm sure your friends will teach you about the wand later, but first we must go." Dumbledore walked quickly towards the door. Without stopping he through his palm out and the door opened all by itself. Sora and the others followed quickly, somewhat afraid that the door might close on the, but it didn't until they were well out of its way. The large door led to a fairly large room that had a couple of doors and a short staircase. Dumbledore marched up the steps with the group close behind. "I'm going to call you up sooner or later. If there is still some left I want you to stand with the group of first years and you'll be able to tell what's going on."

Dumbledore then waved his hand and the large doors opened slightly for them to walk into. They walked into a _gigantic_ room. There were four long tables with millions of children and teenagers sitting at each of them. The children all turned their eyes to the door as they entered. Sora ignored their stares and looked around the wondrous room. On the far side of the long room was a dais with a long table and a number of adults in strange robes sitting behind it. Sora then looked up and saw millions of lit candles floating in the air all around! But what really caught his attention was the ceiling. Instead of seeing a ceiling his gaze was met with billions of bright stars and groups of clouds against what looked like the dark blue sky. It looked very much like when they were outside earlier that night.

Dumbledore motioned for the group to stay at the door with a large group of children who looked to be about eleven years old. Some of them gave them shy looks considering they were at least a foot taller than them all – except for Edward who wasn't all that much taller than them. Goofy got most of the stares since he was at least two feet taller than them. No one noticed Donald since he was so short.

Dumbledore rushed up to the dais and took his place in front a cushioned chair with a large back. "Everyone, I am terribly sorry for being late. I deeply apologize for my absence. I trust Professor McGonagall gave my opening speech, now I will say a few words after the rest of the first years have sorted." Dumbledore then sat down in his chair.

An old woman with a pair of small glasses on her nose stood on the lowest step of the dais with a scroll in her hand and the old raggedy hat, Harry and Ron had taken earlier, in her other. She looked at the scroll and read the name, "Lora Lawson," out loud. A small, skinny girl with dark skin and dark hair walked up to the old woman and sat on a stool placed next to her. The woman placed the raggedy hat on the girl's head. The hat instantly sprang to life and began to speak.

"Ah! You're a sharp girl, plenty of bravery, very smart, quite cunning. Hmmm……._ Gryffindor!" _All around people burst into applause as the girl bounced of the stool and ran over to one of the middle tables, sitting down with a few other kids about her age. The people around her welcomed her with smiles and hand shakes. After everyone settled down the woman read another name off the list. "David Partin." The boy named David walked up to the stool. The hat called out 'Gryffindor' again. After a few more people four different names had been called out. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Finally the last of the children had been called and taken their seats, leaving Sora, Donald, Goofy, Winry and Edward standing awkwardly by the big door. Dumbledore stood up from his chair and began to speak.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to Hogwarts and welcome back. Again I apologize for being late. But now it is time to get down to business. First off, we have a group of wizards transferring from our sister schools.

"First we have Sora, transferring from Durmstrang."Sora walked forward as all the children had done when their names were called. He sat on the stool and the old woman placed the talking hat on his spiky hair and it sprang to life.

"Ah! This is the easiest one I've had all night! _GRYFFINDOR!_" exclaimed the hat. Cheers erupted from the students all over. Sora skipped over to one of the middle tables he had seen many others do.

"Over here!" said a voice. Sora looked around and spotted a boy with flaring red.

"Ron?" Sora walked over to him and sat down. Harry was on Ron's other side.

"So you're transfers, are you mate?" asked Ron. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"I'll tell you later," Sora said shaking a few hands of the people who were greeting him.

"Next we have Goofy, also transferring from Durmstrang," announced Dumbledore.

Goofy walked through the rows of tables – a few girls giggling and waving as he past, others marveling at his height – and sat on the stool. The old woman placed the hat on his dark head. "Hmmm, quite loyal and kind, true to your friends… _Hufflepuff!_" Cheers fired up again as Goofy walked over to the Hufflepuff table where people were gesturing for him to come to. He sat down with a smile and shook hands with those near him, then waved to Sora. Sora waved back somewhat disappointed that he wouldn't be with his friend.

"Next is Miss Winry Rockbell, transferring from Beauxbatons."

Winry marched confidently up to the stool and sat down. When the hat touched her head it gave a chuckle. "My, my, you have a lot of wit and courage. You care about your friends… not the most loyal person I've seen tonight, brains….. _Ravenclaw!_"Winry hopped off the stool and walked over to the table on the far right.

"And now we have Donald, from, of course, Durmstrang."

Donald waddled up to the stool and climbed up. "Hmmm," said the hat as it settled on his white hair. "Plenty of courage, not much for chivalry, excellent gift for magic…. ah, _Ravenclaw!"_ Donald climbed off the stool and waddled over to the Ravenclaw table, climbing onto the seat next to Winry.

"And last but certainly not least, from Durmstrang we have Edward Elric."

Edward walked up to the stool. The hat was placed on his blond hair. "My, my! You have quite a bit of courage. Skill, very smart," said the hat, its voice dropped to a whisper, "Haven't seen a mind like this since Mr. Potter came here." Edward glanced out of the corner of his eye at Harry who was whispering to Sora and Ron. "Or maybe even Riddle… What do you think? Slytherin could be a great place for you. Many powerful, almost dangerous, wizards have been placed there. But maybe it should be Gryffindor….. You have an interesting past…. Oh I suppose… _GRYFFINDOR!"_ it yelled. Applause burst out as it had for everyone else. Edward seated himself next to Sora.

"All right! We're in the same group!" Sora said excitedly.

The applause died down as Dumbledore lifted his hands. "Speaking of our sister schools, I have an announcement that many of you will find exciting, but first I must introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Everyone in the hall suddenly stopped whispering as if a taboo word had just been spoken. "I am pleased to introduce Professor Moody!"

A door on the right side of the dais opened and someone stepped through it. Sora and Edward thought it would be polite to clap for the new teacher, considering they themselves had been welcomed with a wide applause, but the room stayed as quite as a funeral as the man stepped into view so they felt awkward as their hands only came together twice. The only ones who really clapped were Dumbledore and a very large man with a tangled brown beard, but they soon stopped, letting the claps echo through the dead hallway. Sora and Edward suddenly realized why no one was clapping. They were too transfixed on his strange appearance.

He wasn't good looking in much of any way. He looked as if he was loosing hair and had a hooknose. But his strangest feature was that of his left eye. It was large as if it was swelled and had a brace around it.

"_Mad-Eye _Moody?" Ron muttered. Moody reached into his cloak and pulled out a hip flask and gulped the liquid inside it. "I'm betting that's not pumpkin juice." Moody then walked over to an empty seat and sat down, totally indifferent to the unwelcome feel in the room.

"Ah yes, as I was saying earlier. I have an exciting announcement to make. We have the honor of hosting a wondrous event here at our school over the next few months. This event has not been held for over a century.

"I am pleased to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Everyone in the entire Great Hall burst out into surprised shouts and comments. "**BLOODY HELL! YOU"RE JOKING!**"

* * *

**(A/N)**

Yes, yes! I put in aHarry Potter world! I appologize for those of who who aren't ino the series or like, despise it for some reason! For those who don't know, it will be taking place during the fourth book (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

Review, and if you kill bring some Pheonix Downs!


End file.
